You Are Safe You Are Loved
by Imagination.To.Paper
Summary: A different take on the pilot episode. Callie's stay with the Fosters is filled with secrets, lies, love, and acceptance. All characters will be included. Warning: Touches upon self-harm situations and stronger material. Please R R!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! This is my second fanfic, so bare with me as I continue to work through some writing and story lines. **

**This is a different take on the beginning of the show- about Callie coming to stay with the Fosters- but she has some dark secrets. Can the family help her through them? Read to find out! **

**Warning: Self-harm situations throughout the story**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Fosters, unfortunately. **

* * *

**This first chapter is basically a filler. It is meant to set the scene and to get a little perspective about the changes from the actual show. **

Lena sighed as she was directed to voicemail for the third time. _Come on, Stef._ She thought to herself as she tapped her hand anxiously on the steering wheel. After the fourth attempt, she let out a frustrated groan, threw her phone into her purse, and got out of the car.

"Hi, Lena"

"Hey, Bill." Lena responded. She knew Bill needed help, however, she also knew that making a decision to foster yet another child without Stef wasn't the smartest choice. Regardless, she made her way over to the man.

"I've got a special one." Bill replied sympathetically.

"They're all special" Lena replied with a hint of sadness and annoyance.

"Well Callie will be here from juvie in…" Bill began when Lena cut him off.

"Wait what? Juvie? I'm not letting a criminal into my house!" Lena was taken back at the thought of how Bill could even suggest this arrangement. He knew about her family; her wife being a cop and her children. She didn't even need to think it over twice; she knew she couldn't help him out this time.

"It's not like that. Sometimes when they're in the foster system for so long, kids get frustrated. Unfortunately for Callie, she got caught in the middle of it." Bill explained, trying to calm the woman down.

"I can't let some girl who is just getting out of juvie into my home. I have four other people to think about."

"I just need her to stay with you for a couple of days. Just until I can find a different foster home for her. I thought of you and Stef immediately with Callie because she doesn't take well to male authority figures." Bill tried his best to persuade Lena as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. "I know it's asking a lot at the last minute, but I could really use your help, Lena."

Lena turned slightly at the sound of a car pulling into the parking lot. She turned back to Bill and asked carefully, "Just a couple of days?"

"Please, Lena. She isn't dangerous. She's just misunderstood."

Lena sighed once more as she looked back at the car. The man driving had already gotten out, but there was no sign of the girl. "Let me try Stef again." Lena pulled her phone out of her purse and walked over towards her car in order to gain a little more privacy.

"Thank you, Lena. I truly appreciate it." Bill said as he walked over to the car to see what was taking so long.

"Uhhh come on COME ON!" Lena exclaimed in a frustrated tone as once again she was sent to voicemail. She took a moment to collect her thoughts; she had a very big decision to make and she was going to have to make it quickly and on her own.

"Callie, this is Lena" Lena heard Bill speak behind her. Slowly, the woman turned around and was met with a small-framed girl with curly brown hair and large brown eyes. She could see the terror in her eyes as she tried to make herself as small as possible.

"Hi, Callie. It's very nice to meet you." Lena responded with a smile.

Callie didn't move a muscle and continued to stare at Lena with wide eyes.

"Umm I couldn't reach Stef" Lena explained. She was still looking at the girl, but her question was directed to Bill.

"I was hoping you could take her now… I have four other kids to get to today." Bill said guiltily and joined the gaze towards the young girl.

Lena felt a twitch in her stomach as she thought the statement over in her head. "Ummm yeah, Bill. That's fine." Even though she had decided from the get-go that she wouldn't take this girl in, the frightened look in the girl's eyes and defeated stance made her heart ache. "A few days, right?"

"Or weeks, yeah." Bill replied, bending down to pick up Callie's two small suitcases, which Lena figured was all that she owned.

_Weeks?!_ Lena thought to herself. She didn't want to make Callie feel like she wasn't wanted, so she kept quiet, but a few weeks was very different than a few days. Instead she smiled once again and said, "Sure. Just keep me updated."

"I have to go, I'm so sorry. I'll be by tomorrow with paperwork and her file. We can sit down with Stef to talk too. Ill have more time tomorrow. Thank you so much." Bill hastily replied as he loaded the car with the girl's belongings and began to walk to his car.

Lena rubbed her temples as she thought through what just happened. _Stef's gonna kill me._ She thought to herself as she turned back towards the girl who was standing in the same spot as before. She smiled once again before talking. "Alright, Callie. Wanna get in the car?"

Lena received no verbal response from the girl, but was happy when she saw Callie open the back seat door and slide in. Her head flew down and she folded her hands gently on her lap.

Lena shut the door carefully and got into the driver's seat. _Well, I guess dinner for 6 today. _

* * *

Mariana had just finished a topcoat of nail polish on her fingers when Jesus barged in. "Hey! What if I was changing?" She yelled in annoyance.

Jesus shrugged and began talking. "Do you know Tina from school?"

"Uhhh yeah. I mean I see her around school I guess but we aren't like friends."

"Ok." Jesus responded.

Mariana looked up at her brother and raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I just wanted to know if you knew her. Some guys were talking about her today at school."

"What were they saying?" Mariana wondered as she gave her full attention to her brother. She loved to hear about the happenings around the school.

"They said" Jesus began before looking over his shoulder and closing the door. He walked closer to Mariana so he could talk quieter. "They said she was selling drugs at school."

Mariana's face froze and her body stiffened. "Wha- what?"

Jesus didn't take notice of his sister's body language and continued. "I dono if it's true or not, but I heard from some of the guys that she is selling pills before and after school."

"Well uhh have they seen her doing it?" Mariana stammered, trying to keep her composureand eye contact with her brother.

"Nah. They just heard about it. It could be fake. I dono. Thought maybe you knew" Jesus shrugged as he walked towards the door.

"Jesus" Mariana yelled after him.

He turned around and responded with a sluggish "What?"

Mariana looked down and shook her head. "Never mind" She couldn't tell him that she knew it wasn't Tina who was selling the pills. She couldn't tell him how she knew. She couldn't tell him that she was the one selling the pills; or rather selling his medication, at school. And she couldn't tell him why, either.

* * *

"I really mean it, B." Stef praised her son while she drove the two of them home. "You were incredible!"

"Thanks." Brandon tried to shrug off the compliment, but a smile formed on his lips.

"No really. You are gonna kill that audition tomorrow." Stef smiled as she looked over at her son who had performed an original piece at a piano recital. She beamed at the talent her son possessed.

"I hope so. Getting Professor Grant to mentor me would be a huge help to getting me into Gerard." Brandon thought out loud.

"Brandon. You need to relax." Stef said as she reached a hand over to her son and rested it on his knee. "You've got this." She assured him and gave his knee a quick squeeze before placing it back on the wheel.

Brandon turned to look out the window and his smile formed once again. He knew he needed to relax. He had practiced for hours each day in preparation for this audition. He knew the music like the back of his hand. Still, he was worried about the outcome. He was worried about what he could fall back on if he didn't get it. Brandon shook the thoughts out of his mind and rested his head against the cool window and closed his eyes.

* * *

Callie nervously scanned the kitchen. She didn't know anything about this family and based on her past experiences, she needed to scope out the exits and possible defense items, just in case. Lena looked over at the girl who was fixed in a trance, scanning the room.

"Are you hungry or thirsty?" Lena asked gently.

Callie's eyes timidly met Lena's and she shook her head no. Slowly, she sat down in one of the kitchen stools and her eyes met the floor.

Lena sighed and pulled a stool around to the other side of the table, so she was across from the girl. She didn't want to invade her space by sitting directly next to her. Lena knew she should at least try to talk to Callie while they weren't being interrupted by her other kids. She bent her head down slightly to try and capture the girl's gaze and spoke gently. "Can you talk to me, Callie?"

Callie looked up at the sound of her foster mom. She didn't answer, but Lena was glad that she was at least acknowledging her. "Could you tell me something about yourself?" Lena tried again.

This time, Callie slowly opened her mouth to answer when loud thumping echoed throughout the kitchen and Jesus bounded into the room. Callie's mouth quickly snapped shut and her eyes found their way back to the ground.

"Mom! Is dinner ready?" The Latino boy asked quickly, looking around the kitchen for food.

Lena sighed as she saw Callie crawl back into her shell. She was so close to getting her to talk. However, she averted her eyes to her son. "Jesus. This is Callie. She's going to be living here for a little while." She explained as she looked from Jesus to Callie and back to Jesus.

"Hey." The boy said to the girl whose head was still down. Callie picked her head up to see the smile on the boy's face. She forced a small smile and looked towards Lena. She didn't know what to do or how she should respond.

Taking initiative of the situation, Lena turned to her son and asked, "Ummm baby. Will you please set the table?" Jesus nodded and went to the cabinet to grab some plates. The woman then turned towards the young girl, whose eyes had made their way back towards the floor, and softly said "Callie, why don't you wash up in this bathroom." She finished by pointing to the bathroom that was located right next to the kitchen. Callie timidly got off of the stool and followed Lena's finger towards the direction of the bathroom. Once she reached the bathroom, she quickly shut the door.

"Jesus, please tell your sister that dinner is ready" Lena added as she watched Callie walk to the bathroom and shut the door rather quickly. She turned towards Jesus as she instructed him and cringed as he took a deep breath and yelled "MARIANA!" Jesus guiltily looked at Lena knowing full well that she didn't like yelling in the house.

"Ok I could've done that." Lena smirked.

At the sound of footsteps on the stairs, Jesus smiled and pointed out "Hey it worked, didn't it?"

Lena shook her head with a small smile and turned back towards the bathroom.

"Did you have to yell?" An annoyed Mariana asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"How else were you gonna hear me over your phone calls with Tyler?" Jesus said with a mocking tone. Emphasizing the name.

"Shut up!" Mariana hissed as she shoved her brother as he laid out the silverware.

"Whose Tyler?" Lena asked from her position at the entrance of the kitchen. She wanted to be a little closer to Callie in case she needed something, but she also wanted to keep involved with her children.

Mariana shook her head "No one just this kid at school. We're doing a project together" She explained as she looked back down at her phone.

"Yeah. A project of love" Jesus said as he pretended to gag at the word love. He began to laugh at his own joke until Lena shot him a glare.

"What's wrong with you?" Mariana asked- her voice had a hint of sadness, but it was mostly filled with anger and annoyance.

"Ok. Ok. That's enough you two." Lena instructed, knowing she needed to diffuse the argument before it got out of hand. She turned back towards the closed door and decided to make sure the girl was ok. She knocked on the door and gently asked if she was alright.

After a few moments, she heard the door open slightly and Callie's face emerged. Lena smiled brightly at her and stepped aside so the girl could leave the bathroom and go back into the kitchen. "Choose any chair to sit in, Callie" She instructed as she walked slowly behind her; mindful to give her some space.

"Except this one." Jesus stated as he put his hand on the end chair. "This is my spot."

"Jesus!" Lena was appalled at her son's disrespect for the girl who was clearly already frightened. She received a mumbled 'sorry' from the boy who turned back to the cabinets to get cups out for drinks.

Mariana put her phone down on the table and looked at Callie. "Whose friend are you?" She asked.

"Callie is going to be staying here for a bit. So please welcome her into this house, yes?" Lena asked, answering her daughter but directing the answer at both kids. She received nods from both twins and she smiled. "Good." She waited to see if Callie would speak, but at no surprise she didn't. So she turned back to her children and said "Please go wash up, loves" both children stopped what they were doing and obliged.

Lena went to the stove to finish some of the preparation and Callie sat down in the far corner of the breakfast nook. After a small amount of fighting in the bathroom, the twins both walked back to the table and sat down. They both picked up their phones and were immediately engrossed in them. Callie took a deep breath and used this time of silence to continue looking around the house. She noted the back door and when she went to the bathroom, she caught sight of the front door.

"Hi babies!" Stef's voice startled Callie and pulled her out of her thoughts. She hadn't even heard the door open, much less the woman walk into the rom until she spoke. Stef hadn't noticed the girl who had froze when she saw Stef's uniform and continued to walk over to her kids and kiss them on their heads.

She reached down to grab Mariana's phone from her before planting another kiss on her forehead. "Hi sweets. How was school?"

Mariana groaned at the loss of her phone but knew she wasn't allowed to have her phone out while they were eating. Before she had a chance to respond, Jesus piped up. "Mariana has a partner project coming up. With… ummm who was it again? I think his name was Tyler." He smirked and looked smugly at his sister.

"Hmmm is this Tyler cute?" Stef asked as she placed her hands on her son's shoulders and also looked at Mariana.

"It's not like that!" Mariana stated as she gave them both a roll of her eyes and a glare.

"Mmmhmmm." Stef raised an eyebrow at the answer but smiled as she kissed her son's head. "You both washed up?" She asked as she turned to her wife who was still at the stove. Two 'yups' confirmed it and Stef finally turned her attention to Lena. "Hi love. How was your day?"

Lena turned around to face Stef. She still hadn't thought of a good way to explain the situation and was trying to buy some more time in order to think of something. "It was ok." She confessed as she leaned in for a kiss, which Stef obliged. "Where's B?" Lena asked.

"He went upstairs to change." Stef answered and smiled.

"How about you? How was your day?" Lena asked, still trying to buy herself some time.

"Oh it was good. Lot of paperwork today." Stef began as she turned towards the fridge to grab a beer. As she closed the fridge door, she noticed a girl occupying the far seat of the breakfast nook. Stef was not confused by the addition of a teenager in her home; she had three children who brought friends over from time-to-time. However, her location did raise a flag. "And who is this?" Stef asked the room as she looked at each family member.

Lena stepped up and rested her hand on the woman's shoulder. "Uhhh Stef, this is Callie. She's going to be staying with us for a little while." Lena hoped Stef wouldn't make a big deal out of this, at least not in front of the kids. Luckily, Stef simply smiled at the girl and informed her, "Hi! I'm Stef." When Callie didn't respond, she turned to face Lena and gave her a questioning look.

"She hasn't said a word since I picked her up." Lena explained.

"And you didn't say a word about this to me." Stef said flatly. Although she tried to make it so only Lena could hear, all three children heard and Callie shrunk down further in her seat.

Before anyone else could utter a word, Brandon entered the kitchen and slid into his seat. He followed the gazes of his family to the girl and smiled slightly. He could see that the girl was afraid. He turned to his siblings who quickly and quietly filled him in. As he turned back to the girl, he decided to try and break the awkward silence that filled the normally loud room. "Do you want some dinner, Callie?" He asked and received confused looks from both of his mothers. They were both stunned and happy to see their son take charge of the situation when they seemed to not be able to.

Their reaction quickly changed when they saw Callie lift her head up only long enough to shake it no.

"Ok!" Stef said quickly, turning to her three children at the kitchen table, trying to diffuse the situation. "Start eating. Homework needs to be done after dinner and no TV or video games until it's completely done." Stef finished. She directed the last part towards her younger son.

"What are you looking at me for?" He asked accusingly.

Mariana opened her mouth to give a smartass answer, but Stef caught on quickly and warned her "One word and you loose your phone." With that, the girl sighed and turned back to her food.

As the kids began to eat and their chatter picked up, Lena walked over to Callie and bent down slightly- as to not seem as intimidating to the girl who was clearly frightened. "Hey, Callie. Do you wanna come in a room that's a little quieter?" She smiled softly at the girl when she responded with a nod of her head. Lena took initiative and stood back up. She waited for the girl to slide out from the nook and began to follow Lena. "Though it's hardly ever quiet in this house" Lena added as she quickly grabbed a plate of food that had been made for the girl. They made their way into the living room and stopped in front of the couch. Callie tentatively looked up at the woman, not knowing what to do. Lena understood the uneasiness the girl must be feeling, so she set the plate down on the coffee table and sat herself down on one side of the couch.

"You can sit down" Lena said softly as she looked to the empty spot on the couch. Quickly, as to follow her instructions, Callie sat as far away from Lena as possible and her head once again found it's way back to the ground.

"I know everyone can be overwhelming at first, but I know you'll get used to it in a couple of days." Lena began. She stopped to look at the girl whose eyes were still fixated on the ground. "Can you talk to me? I'm the only one here. You're safe."

Carefully, Callie lifted her head up and Lena could see tears pooling around her eyes. All Lena wanted to do was pull the girl into a hug, but she settled for a small smile and waited for the girl to say something. However, what came out of the girl's mouth took her by surprise.

"You're not gonna hit me?" The first words Callie had spoken since entering the house, shocked Lena.

Realizing she hadn't said anything for a few moments, Lena shook her head and looked directly at the girl. "Of course not, honey. Why would you ask that?" At that question, Lena lost the gaze of the girl once more. She decided to keep talking and asking questions, in hope that the girl would react to at least one of them. "Did someone hit you at your last foster home?" Lena cringed at the thought of a child, especially this child, being physically hurt in a place where she was suppose to feel safe. At the sound of sobs escaping from the girl's lips, Lena knew she had asked the right question.

"Oh Callie. Oh love I'm so sorry. But I promise you, you will not be abused in any way in this house. I'm so sorry that happened to you, but you are safe here." Lena had to use every ounce of strength to keep the space between her and the crying girl. "Ok?" She asked, her voice breaking slightly as she held in her own tears.

Lena sighed when she saw Callie nod briefly and turned towards the plate of food that was still sitting on the table. "Are you hungry?"

Callie responded much as she had before- shaking her head no.

Lena let out a frustrated sigh as she turned back to face the girl. "Ok. Would you like to be left alone for a while?" Immediately, Callie nodded yes and Lena took that as her queue to leave and talk to Stef. "Alright. I'll be right in the kitchen if you need anything." Lena took one last look at the broken girl before she got up and headed back into the kitchen.

After she was sure that Lena was completely out of the room, Callie pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her head into her knees. She tried to stifle the sobs, but was unsuccessful. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to leave Jude. She didn't know how she was going to save him. She didn't want to get attached to another family just to have them pulled away from her again. Callie's tears flowed freely as she tried to make herself shrink into the couch and forget about all of the pain.

**Updated 7/17**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about the wait! But thank you so much for the reviews! They made me confident in what I was writing! **

**As stated in the summary, there are mentions of self-harm, so if this is a trigger, please be careful. **

**Thanks again for reading! =]**

* * *

As Lena entered the kitchen, she let out a sad breath. She hated that Callie hadn't spoke except to make sure that she wasn't going to be hit. _How could someone do that to a child?_ Lena thought as she scanned the room. She smiled at her children who were all chatting and eating. Mariana playfully nudging Jesus and Brandon pretending to be mad about something one of the twins said. Her heart beamed- she was so lucky. Lena's eyes quickly found Stef, who was leaning against the side counter, away from the kids. Her food was on the counter next to her, and she had a glass of water in her hand. Lena could tell that Stef was upset, but was trying to conceal it for the sake of the kids.

As Lena approached her, she began to apologize before Stef cut her off by grabbing her arm and leading the two into the kitchen nook. "How could you do this without talking to me first?"

"I tried calling you numerous times, Stef!" Lena replied in a frustrated tone.

"And you couldn't wait until we were both home because…" Stef asked. She knew she was probably sounding a little harsh to the woman who only wanted to open her heart, but this was a big decision that was made without her knowledge.

"Bill was going to have no other choice but to throw her back into juvie where" Lena began before she was cut off by Stef's sharp tone. "Ummm excuse me. Juvie? As in a juvenile delinquent?" Stef's eyes were wide as she wondered how Lena was ok with having someone from juvie stay with them, in their house, with their kids.

"Yes but she was only there because she got in the middle of some things at her last foster home." Lena answered softly. The more they talked, the more she realized that this was something she should have probably talked with Stef about first.

"I don't even know what to say." Stef replied in a flat tone.

"I think she was abused." Lena said. She didn't intend it to be directed at Stef, it was more of her stating her thoughts out loud.

"What?" Stef asked, her voice calming. She reached over and pulled her wife closer and tried to capture the gaze that had fallen to the ground. "Why do you say that, love?"

"The only thing she has asked is if I was going to hit her." Lena said, sadness and tears forming.

At this point, the teens had stopped talking and had heard the end of their mothers' conversation. They looked at both of them with worried looks and Stef took the lead to get things moving again. She quickly glanced at Lena, silently letting her know that they will continue the conversation later, and then turned back towards her kids. "Ok. Are all of you done?" She said, trying to make her voice as normal as possible. Stef began to pick up some of the plates and glasses from the table and the kids took the hint. They followed in suit and soon the table was clear.

"Hey sweets. Did you take your medicine today?" Stef directed at her younger son.

"Oh. I forgot." He shrugged as he walked over to the basket where his medicine was kept.

"Sure, sure you 'forgot'" Stef threw her hands up and drew imaginary quotation marks in the air when she said 'forgot'. She got a smirk from her son who turned back to his task. After opening the bottle, his brow crinkled slightly. He counted the pills once more to make sure that he hadn't made a mistake, but he reached the same number again. _Where are all my pills?_ He wondered as he dug around the basket to see if any of them had somehow fallen out of the bottle. He looked around and saw the rest of the family occupied, so he capped up his medicine and pretended to take a pill. He washed the fake pill down with water and put the cup in the sink. "Done." He stated as he began to walk up the stairs.

"Homework." Stef called to him before he made it to the stairs. An exaggerated sigh let Stef know that he had heard her and turned her focus to her oldest son.

"I have to go practice for my audition." Brandon stated as he brought his plate up to the sink.

"You've been practicing all day," Lena stated as she turned to look at him.

"I have to be the best for this audition." He replied, throwing his arms up in the air and letting them drop back down.

"Alright. But come up for air once in a while. Kay?" Lena responded, giving him a small smile.

He replied with a mumble and headed for the stairs.

Stef beamed while watching the love of her life interacting so naturally with her son. She was pulled out of her gaze at the sound of her daughter's voice. "Can Lexi come over tomorrow after school?" She asked, her hands folded in a pleading manner. She gave her mom her best puppy dog eyes.

Lena and Stef exchanged glances and both smiled at their diva of a daughter. Stef chuckled and agreed. Mariana smiled and ran to put her plate in the sink. As she turned to go back up the stairs, she pulled her phone out and began texting.

Watching her family distracted Stef momentarily from the event that had happened earlier. Once her daughter had made it to the stairs, Stef's mind traveled back to the girl in their living room and she turned towards Lena. She took her hands into her own and softly began to speak. "I'm sorry I yelled and I'm sorry for the way I acted, but come on, love! How was I supposed to react? Walking into our house to see a random girl from juvie sitting in our kitchen, with our children." Stef tried to remain calm, but her anxiousness crept up and it showed through her tone.

Lena nodded and replied. "I know. That wasn't fair of me to do. But if you could've seen her face…"Lena began, thinking back to the parking lot and into those big brown eyes- filled with fear and sadness.

"Babe." Stef said as she pulled her wife closer to her "you can't save 'em all." Stef finished sadly. She loved how open Lena's heart was and knew if she could, she would take in every foster child.

Lena only responded by looking down. She knew that taking Callie at that short notice wasn't her best idea, but there was something about the way the girl looked at her- as if she was debating whether or not she could be safe in their house. Lena couldn't explain it, but she felt a connection to the young girl.

At the drop of Lena's head, Stef used one finger to pull her chin up so they were looking into each other's eyes. "But I guess a few days couldn't hurt." Stef smiled as she saw Lena's face light up.

"Thanks, babe." Lena said as she wrapped her own arms around the woman and pulled her into a kiss.

Pulling away from the wonderful embrace, Lena informed Stef that she was going to check on the girl in the living room. "I'll come with too." Stef replied as she began to follow Lena. "Maybe she'll talk to the two of us." She hoped as they made their way into the living room.

At first glance, the moms didn't see the girl and both hearts began racing. Though, before either of them could turn into mama bear mode, Stef spotted the girl shoved as far into the back corner of the couch as possible- trying to hide herself.

Lena's hand flew over her heart and she noticed the full plate of food in front of the girl. She sighed deeply as she reached down to pick up the plate that was now cold. "She didn't touch her food" she informed Stef as she showed her the plate.

"We can talk to her in the morning" Stef assured Lena as her hands went to the woman's shoulders and she began to lead the woman out of the living room- hopefully giving the girl more space.

As they reached the stairs, Stef let go of Lena's shoulders and instead slipped her hand into the mocha, smooth one. She gave it a gently squeeze as they continued up the steps. As they reached the last stair and began to turn the corner towards their room, they almost ran into their daughter. "Hi, love. You alright?" Stef asked, releasing her grip on her wife's hand and turning her full attention to her daughter.

"Mhmm" was the only response from Mariana as she tried to continue down the stairs, only halting when she felt her mother's hand on her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Stef asked. She began to raise an eyebrow as she witnessed her daughter let out a frustrated breath and quickly answered "Downstairs" and tried to continue her task once more.

"Mariana." This time, Stef turned her daughter around, holding either side of her shoulders with both hands. "What's going on?" She narrowed her eyes.

"I just wanted to get a drink of water, okay?" Mariana responded, her voice full of sass, which she knew would not slide with her moms. "Sorry" she quickly mumbled.

"Mariana. Why are you upset?" Lena was the one to talk now, hoping to give her wife a little time to let the previous remark go.

"I'm not. I promise. I just needed some water. I'm just tired." Mariana tried her best to convince her moms.

Both moms glanced at each other, not convinced, but not wanting to start an argument with Callie right downstairs.

Finally, Lena nodded and kissed her daughter on the head saying, "Ok, baby. Goodnight."

"Night, mama" She replied, then turned towards the stairs. Before walking down, she turned around once more and added "Love you both."

"We love you." Stef confirmed as she watched the teen scramble down the stairs. As soon as she was out of sight, Stef turned to Lena, but before she could open her mouth, she was cut off.

"I know, love. We'll talk to her tomorrow."

Stef smiled at the fact that her wife could practically read her mind. She leaned over, kissed her on the forehead and the two continued to their rooms.

_Holy shit._ Mariana thought to herself as she walked down the last step and headed into the kitchen. _That was close._ She shook her head of the thoughts and made her way to the cabinets in the kitchen. Slowly opening one, as to not draw any attention to the kitchen, she reached up into one of the baskets and pulled out her brother's bottle of pills. She opened the bottle with shaky hands and carefully put three of them into her pocket before quickly twisting the cap back on and throwing it back into the basket. As she shut the cabinet, she spun around and was met by the wide eyes of Callie. She quickly grabbed a glass cup that was sitting on the table next to her and shrugged. "Just getting some water" she tried to sound nonchalant as she drank the water, put the cup back and walked back towards the stairs. All the while, Callie didn't utter a single word.

Callie hadn't really taken notice of what the girl was doing. She had gotten up after Stef and Lena had left, and she thought she was alone downstairs. Quite honestly, she didn't care about what the girl _what was her name? Mary? Meradith?_ was doing, she needed to get somewhere she could be alone.

Quickly, as to not run into any more of the people living in the house, she snuck into the bathroom and turned on the light and fan. She locked the door and let herself slide down it, her face buried in her hands. She tried to swallow her sobs, but was unsuccessful. Typically, at other foster houses, Callie would have been sent to her room, yelled at, or forced to complete a list of tasks. _Why are they being so nice? _Callie thought. She wasn't accustomed to people caring about her, so the gestures made by the women were confusing to her. _They must be trying to trick me._ Callie told herself as she remembered a previous foster home. The parents had been really nice at first, but slowly, their smiles had turned into frowns, and their kind words had turned into words of hate. They had tricked her into believing that they truly cared about her, only to rip all of the hope out from under her. Finally, after a few months, they called up Bill and demanded her be taken away. _'We can't have this disgrace in our presence. With others thinking she belongs with us.'_ She remembered overhearing the conversation her foster mother was having with Bill. Callie shook the thoughts away and realized that her breathing had become hitched and uneven.

Callie tried to take gulps of air, but the stress and anxiety of the thoughts were simply too strong. She quickly stood up, ignoring the wave of dizziness that washed over her from not eating dinner, and begin to rummage through the cabinets. It had been about two weeks since she had last cut. She had used all of her strength to resist the urge when she was around Jude, but at the moment, the only solution she could think of was to cut. Breathing a slight sigh of relief when she found a razor in one of the drawers, she fumbled with the outer plastic part- trying to free the blades.

Finally, after a minute of struggling, Callie had freed the blades and grabbed ahold of the first one, throwing the rest of the razor back into the drawer. She slid back down to the floor and snapped her eyes shut tightly. _Give it up. Who cares if you cut. If it helps, just do it._ Callie thought to herself as she numbly brought the blade to her wrist and pushed down. At the first sight of blood, the girl's breathing became more regulated. She felt a wave of relief wash out of her body as she continued. Finally, after 6 cuts up her arm, Callie let the blade drop out of her hand. She looked down at her work and began to cry.

_You're so ugly. _She thought to herself as tears began to fall again. She reached up and grabbed the toilet paper. She began to wrap the cuts, using almost the entire roll. _I'll have to buy a new one to replace this._ She thought as she applied pressure to the wound. She added a new layer of toilet paper over the cuts and tucked the corner in, keeping it in place. She pulled her sleeve down forcefully and simply stared at nothing in particular. She felt around the floor for the blade and once she found it, she slipped it into her pocket, all while never breaking her distant gaze. She had no idea what to expect from this family. It was easier when she knew it was an abusive home, because she knew what she needed to do to keep her and Jude safe. At this house, she didn't know what to expect, and that scared her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay of this story and my other story. It is getting to the end of the summer and everything I've put off doing is ****suddenly taking all of my time! **

**Also, so sorry that these first three chapters have been so short! I promise they will get longer. **

**Thank you so so much for the reviews! They were so encouraging. I am glad some of you enjoy my writing style. **

**Ok enough babbling. Let's get to the Fosters =]**

* * *

Before her and Lena walked into their room, Stef told her wife that she was gonna check on the rest of the kids, who she assumed were either finishing their homework or getting ready for bed.

Stef made her way to her oldest son's room and knocked a couple of times before hearing a 'come in'. She smiled as she opened the door and saw Brandon sitting at his keyboard.

"Hey B." Stef said as she sat down on his desk chair. She pulled one leg up and rested her foot on the edge of the chair while her arm rested on her knee.

"Hi" Brandon responded, clearly distracted.

Stef sighed and continued to look at her son who hadn't yet looked up from his sheet music. "Done with homework?"

"Mom. I have to practice for tomorrow so please" he responded, finally turning to face his mother "please go."

"You need to give it a rest. Please do your school work." Stef responded, ignoring the slight annoyance in his voice.

"But mom…"

"You can practice after." The woman replied with a stern look.

"Fine." Brandon replied, reaching over her to grab his textbooks, which were on his desk.

Stef sighed. She didn't particularly like how her son was speaking, but she knew he was under an extreme amount of pressure, so she didn't bring it up. She simply stood up and as she bent down to kiss his head she replied with a thank you. Before completely leaving the room, a thought came to her and she turned back around to look at her son who already had a textbook open. "Oh and with Callie in the house, she might need more of our attention, so if you could please step up, that would be greatly appreciated."

This time, Brandon looked up right away and smiled at his mom. "Of course."

Stef smiled at her son. _There's my sweet boy._ "Night. Love you." She said once more and shut the door behind her.

* * *

As Stef went to talk to Brandon, Jesus barged into his sister's room.

"Knock much?" Mariana growled. She was lying on her bed, staring down at the screen until she was interrupted. After the unwelcome presence of her twin, Mariana quickly shut off her phone and put it down. She sat up and glared at her brother.

"Did you see anyone take any of my pills?" He asked, ignoring her reaction to his entering her room.

"Why would anyone take your pills?" Mariana replied, getting off her bed and moving to her desk, hoping to avoid any sort of eye contact.

"I dono. Mom just bought me a new bottle yesterday and there are only a few left."

"I don't know, Jesus." Mariana responded in an anxious tone. "Now can you please go?" She shot him another glare and Jesus looked at her with the same expression. "Jesus! Go!" Her voice became louder when she saw that he hadn't moved. "Jesus!"

"Woah, woah, woah! What's with all the yelling in here?" Both sets of eyes looked at their mother who was coming to check up on Mariana after Brandon. When she heard arguing, she knew Jesus was in there as well.

"Jesus won't leave even after I asked him to twice." Mariana complained to Stef.

"Jesus?" Stef turned to look at her son. "Did you need something from your sister?"

Jesus looked from his mom to his sister and shook his head. He turned to walk out of the room when Stef stopped him. "Did you finish your homework?"

"Mhmm" He responded and continued walking out after Stef nodded, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and told him she loved him.

Receiving a 'night. Love ya' from her son, Stef shook her head and turned back to her daughter, who had retreated back to her bed, eyes glued to the screen of her phone.

Stef walked further into the room and sat down next to the girl, who immediately put her phone down.

"Hey, love." Stef said gently as she saw her daughter's actions very unlike her. "Anything you wanna talk about?" Stef had hoped that maybe after a little time after the conversation on the stairs that she would want to talk about it. However, the only response she got from her daughter was a shake of the head.

Stef exhaled and reached out a hand to stroke the long dark locks. "Ok, baby. Mama and I going to bed soon." After receiving yet another nod, Stef finished with "And please be patient with Callie. She's gone through a lot."

"Mkay" Mariana responded. Out of conversation for the present time, Stef got up, kissed her daughter on the temple a few times before looking into her eyes. "I love you."

The girl made eye contact with her mother and replied with a "Love you too, mom."

Stef placed one more kiss on her daughter's head before leaving the room.

* * *

Lena was just finishing putting her pajama pants on when Stef entered the room, closing the door behind her. "What's wrong?" Lena asked

"Nothing. Just thinking." Stef smiled at her wife.

Lena eyed her love for a moment before making her way into the bathroom to brush her teeth. "I'm gonna at least show her the school tomorrow." Lena stated before putting the brush in her mouth.

"If she's not talking to us, do you really think she'll talk there?" Stef questioned.

After several moments of silence, Stef peeked in the bathroom and found her wife looking for something.

"Is that a yes or no?" Stef tried again as Lena snapped her head up, clearly unaware that she was being talked to.

"What? I'm sorry, love. I can't find my phone."

Stef smiled and walked over to her wife, she placed her arms around her waist while Lena finished brushing her teeth. "Maybe you left it downstairs?" Stef thought out loud as the two made their way towards their bed.

Lena flopped down onto her bed and exhaled deeply. "Uhhhhh whatever. I don't even care enough to go get it." Lena pulled the covers back to get into bed when Stef's body gently resting on her own stopped her actions. "Well I do." Stef replied softly.

Lena crinkled her forehead. "You care about my phone?"

"I care about you." Stef smiled and kissed her wife on the lips before pushing herself off of Lena and the bed. "I was gonna check on Callie anyway." She added.

Before Stef made it to the door, Lena spoke up. "You know I love you, right?"

Ruining a perfectly romantic moment, Stef made a face and replied with "you better!"

Lena rolled her eyes as her wife left the room and Stef chuckled to herself as she made her way down the stairs. Before going into the kitchen to look for her wife's phone, she quietly peeked her head into the living room. Upon seeing the couch vacant, Stef walked further into the room to see if the girl had moved onto another couch or something. When she still saw no sight of the girl, her heart began to race. _Did she run?_ Stef thought to herself as she walked into the kitchen to see if the girl's bag was still in the kitchen nook where she had left it earlier.

A sigh of relief escaped from Stef's lips as she saw that the bag was indeed still in the house. However, her relief soon turned to confusion. _Well if she didn't run, where…_ she began but stopped when she noticed a sliver of light from the bottom of the bathroom door. She carefully walked over to the door and heard small sobs, obviously coming from the girl who was trying to cover them up as best as she could.

"Callie?" Stef called at the door. When she received no answer, Stef leaned against the door and tried again. "Can you just say yes if you're in there and you're alright?" Stef pleaded with the girl. She wasn't sure if she would receive any sort of response- she had barely spoken 2 words since entering the house. Stef was tugged out of her thoughts by a small 'yes' from the other side of the door.

Stef was slightly surprised but also pleased that she had at least gotten the girl to say something. "What can I do to help?" After a few minutes of silence, Stef continued. "How about you come out and we can have some ice cream and talk. I have some hidden from Lena." Stef tried to add a little humor to the situation, but when she still heard nothing form the girl, she decided to try once more. "Come on! You've gotta be starving, love! You didn't eat dinner." Her voice suddenly lowered and almost in a whisper she assured "Please Callie. It's just us. Please? We'll just talk. I promise."

From inside the bathroom, Callie's hands were shaking. She had a feeling that nothing bad would happen, but her previous experiences had taught her not to trust anything or anyone. So, as she listened to Stef speak, she kept silent. Several times, while half listening, she pushed her sleeve up and looked at the tissues, which had started to turn red. _Damn it!_ Callie swore to herself.

Callie was pulled out of her thoughts as she heard the woman almost pleading with her to come out of the bathroom. She took a deep breath and began to push herself up off of the floor. She steadied herself against the sink as she began to feel the room spin. After she had steadied her body, she made sure to pull the sleeve down all the way before slowly reaching out to grab the door handle.

Stef was happily surprised to see the door begin to open and she took a step back to allow the girl to have some space.

Callie slowly emerged from the bathroom. One hand was tightly gripping the sleeve of her sweatshirt and the other trying feverously to wipe away any trace of tears. Stef's heart broke for the girl who had waited for everyone else to go upstairs before letting herself cry in the bathroom. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about the girl that drew her to Stef. Shaking her head of thoughts when she saw Callie standing awkwardly next to the door, Stef smiled and began to walk to the kitchen.

As she went to the cabinet to get some bowls and spoons, she quietly told Callie to choose any seat to sit in. As to not make her feel even more uncomfortable, Stef kept her back turned as she got the ice cream out of the freezer.

"Ok!" Stef said with a smile. "Now, you can't tell Lena about this. It's my secret stash." Stef tried to lighten the mood and smiled broadly at the girl who was fidgeting with her sleeve again. Sighing, Stef began to scoop out some of the ice cream into each bowl. "What's your favorite kind of ice cream?" Stef asked as she slid the bowl over to Callie.

Callie merely shrugged her shoulders and kept her head down; she didn't touch the bowl.

"Do you not like ice cream?" Stef asked. She hadn't even thought that could've been a factor. She just assumed that she, like all of her children, liked the treat.

This time, Stef received a shake of the head, though the girl's eyes did not once move upwards.

Pulling a chair under her, Stef sat down across form Callie and pushed her own bowl to the side before placing her hands on the table and lowering her head slightly. "Can you talk to me?"

When Stef received no response, she tried again. "Are you afraid or feel unsafe?"

The stiffening of Callie's body indicated that Stef had guessed correctly. She took a deep breath before beginning again. "Can you look at me, love?" She asked in a soothing voice. It was easier for her to read people's emotions when she could see their eyes. And she figured if the girl wasn't going to speak, hopefully she could gain some insight by the looks in her eyes.

Callie slowly lifted her head and looked towards the woman sitting across from her. She had such kind eyes and Callie wanted to believe her that she was truly a nice person, but the knot in the pit of her stomach told her not to trust anyone, including Stef.

Smiling at the girl when she finally lifted her head, Stef proceeded with a question. "Is there something here that makes you feel unsafe?"

Although her head was up, Callie remained silent. However, like Stef thought, her eyes told a different story. They were filled with fear and with tears threatening to spill over. Stef looked at the broken girl in front of her and decided it wouldn't do either of them any good to keep the conversation- or Stef's talking- going. So, giving the girl one more smile, she stood up, grabbed both bowls of ice cream and walked over to the freezer.

"We can have these tomorrow. Well, that is if Jesus doesn't find them first. Then you're outa luck." Stef said chuckling slightly. "Would you like to go back to bed?" Stef asked as she walked over to the girl who hadn't moved from her chair.

Callie nodded and slipped off of the chair. She began to walk back into the living room and sat down immediately on the couch. She sat as close to the armrest as possible and kept her gaze downward.

"Ok, love. Extra blankets are in this basket if you get cold. All of the doors are locked and Lena and I are right upstairs if you need anything." Stef wanted to make the girl feel as safe as possible, since she hadn't yet figured what actually made the girl feel unsafe.

Callie nodded into her sweatshirt and Stef knew she wanted to be alone. Resisting every urge in her body to hug the girl, she merely settled with a "goodnight" and flipped off the light.


	4. Chapter 4

**As I said in the other story, I am sorry it has taken me a while to update. I have been going through things and trying to get things ready in my house bla bla bla. **

**Anyway, I promised an update before I left for vacation. So I now it's on the short side, but I wanted to leave my wonderful readers with something. I will not be able to update for over a week, but I will keep writing and post when I get back. **

**Again, thanks for reading and reviewing.  
**

* * *

Waiting once again for the sound of footsteps to end, Callie slipped off of the couch and went towards the kitchen to grab her bag and shoes. _I can't just leave him there. _She thought as she tried to mentally plan out how she would get to him quickly.

When she reached down for her bag, her arm brushed against the side of the table and Callie winced in pain. After a second, she shook her head. _I need to quit being so selfish._ She scolded herself as she quietly picked up her backpack and slipped out the back door.

She had taken note of the bus stop that was located only 2 blocks away when Lena drove her to the house earlier that morning. Hoping that she was in fact going the right way, Callie began to run the two blocks; she had no idea what the bus times were. Callie sighed in relief as she spotted the stop and continued to run. She didn't want to take the chance of missing the next bus. After finally reaching the stop, Callie collapsed onto the bench, breathing heavily and head spinning slightly, Callie cursed herself for not eating. She shook off the thought and turned her attention to the road; waiting for the bus to take her to her brother.

* * *

Stef had barely made it into bed when she heard the back door close. She walked over to the open window, which looked out at the backyard, and saw a figure walking from the door towards the gate that led out of the yard. At first, Stef was completely baffled at who was leaving the house, but her thoughts quickly went to Callie and she sighed.

"What, babe?" Lena asked. She was waiting for her wife to get into bed and reading a book, but after being at the window for a long period of time, Lena looked up and placed the book down. "Stef?" Lena tried again slightly louder.

At the sound of her name, Stef's head snapped up and she turned towards Lena. "Sorry. What?" She asked, though her attention slowly crept back to the window.

"Babe." Lena started as she got out of bed and made her way to the window as well and wrapped her arms around wife. What are you looking at?"

Stef sighed as she turned to face Lena. "I think Callie just left through the backyard." Lena's eyes widened at Stef's words and she let go of her stomach. "What? Why? I mean where is she gonna go?" She began rambling until Stef hushed her soothingly.

"Shhhh, babe. I'm gonna follow her to make sure she's ok" She assured as she grabbed a sweatshirt and sweatpants. She quickly opened the safe that hid her gun and looked over at Lena. Stef knew she wouldn't be happy with her having the gun out.

"But… You have no idea where she is going or who she is meeting!" Lena protested, her eyes widened as she saw Stef pull out her gun. "What do you need that for?" She really didn't like it when her wife put herself into dangerous situations, despite her job as a cop.

"Just to be safe, my love." Stef answered. After a moment of silence she added, "I'll be fine. I promise" as she walked over to her worried wife and kissed her. After breaking from the kiss she turned to leave. After opening the door, she turned around and assured her wife once more. "Baby, I have my phone and my gun. And, I'm a cop. I've been trained to handle teens and their lack of judgment. I'll be back soon. I love you." Stef smiled and Lena threw a small smile back. Lena didn't know how her wife had the ability to make her feel so safe with just her words and smile. "I love you too. Please be careful."

"I always am."

* * *

Mariana looked down at her phone for the umpteenth time since her mom had checked on her. She read the texts over and over. _Tomorrow. Bring the pills and you'll get paid. _Mariana felt a tear fall from her eye as she wondered how things had gotten so bad. She had only started out taking one pill a week and breaking it in half for her and Kelsey, a friend who Mariana was always with. However, as the word got around that the Latino was 'selling' the meds, people began to approach her and text her asking for them too. 'Hey! It's more money for you' Kelsey pointed out when Mariana had explained to her what was happening. Mariana shook her head. She couldn't believe how stupid she could have been to go through with it. And now, Jesus was beginning to notice. She didn't know how long she would be able to keep this up undetected. Not to mention her mom was at the school 24/7 with her.

_Don't back out. _Another text scared the girl slightly. She shook off the feeling but it immediately came back with a text and a picture. _Try to dip out, and this will make its way right onto Mommy's desk. _Mariana looked at the picture that accompanied the text. Yet another tear fell as she looked at the picture of her exchanging money for something in a plastic bag, which Mariana knew were the pills, but even if the person didn't know, it looked suspicious enough. _What the hell? Who took this?_ Mariana wondered as she threw the phone onto her bed in anger. As she shook her head in frustration, Mariana made her way to the bathroom to get ready for bed; though she knew she probably wouldn't be getting much if any sleep tonight.

* * *

As Stef pulled out of the driveway in her car, she looked down both sides of the street hoping to see a trace of the girl, indicating which way she went. Stef growled in frustration, as she saw nothing on either side. Racking her brain with ideas as to which way she should go, she remembered that the bus stop was only two blocks away. _She must have been looking for a way out. _Stef thought as she pulled out of the driveway and drove towards the stop.

As soon as she reached the end of the second block, she spotted the girl slumped over on the bench. A stroke of worry went through her head as she hoped the girl was just sleeping or relaxing. She let out a heavy breath when she saw Callie lift her head up and scan both lanes of the road. Stef pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car. She didn't want to frighten the girl, but she wanted to get to her quickly. As she turned to grab her phone from the car, she heard the bus stop and its doors open. Before she could shut the door and run, Callie had gotten on the bus and the doors had closed. _Shit._ She swore as she ran back to the driver side of the car, threw the car into drive and sped off to catch up with the bus. She had no idea where the girl was going, but she knew that she wasn't going to let her go alone.

Stef followed the bus for 15 blocks before Callie got off. _What in the world?_ Stef thought to herself as she watched the young girl walk in a determined fashion- clearly knowing where she was going. Stef didn't want to scare the girl even more than she apparently already was in the house, but she knew she couldn't let her eyes leave the girl. So, Stef parked on the side of the road once more and began to follow Callie on foot.

Callie quickened her pace, as she got closer to her destination. She finally stopped in front of an old and worn-down house. The siding was rusting, the strips of paint were dripping off, and there was garbage littered over the entire yard. Callie hardly noticed the mess, simply because she used to live there. This house was where she landed in juvie. She had hoped to never have to see much less be in this house again, but she knew where her priorities were.

Stef mirrored Callie's change in pace but slowed down when she saw the girl stopped in front of a house. Stef shuttered at the sight of the house and didn't even want to think about whom she would be visiting in there. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize that Callie had moved from her position in the front to the side of the house. Quickly, Stef followed, far enough behind as to not be detected, but close enough to be able to assess the situation.

* * *

Callie carefully crept closer to the side door of the run-down house. She had hoped that her brother would be in sight from the position she was in. Slowly, she lifted her head to the window and a sigh of relief passed through her lips as she saw Jude at the kitchen sink washing dishes. She then peered as far into the house to see if he was alone. She didn't want to run into her old foster father.

Once she finished scanning the room to find it empty, she moved over to the side door and tapped on the glass. She had to make sure that not only Jude heard her, but that her old foster father didn't. Letting out an angry breath when the boy didn't respond to the knock, Callie reached for the doorknob and unsurprisingly found it unlocked. She knew that the doors in this house were rarely locked.

Callie inched the door open as she prayed that the old door wouldn't squeak. Once she had it open a few inches, she tried to whisper her brother's name; he remained oblivious to the situation.

Callie took a breath and inched the door open further before making a gap large enough for her to slip through. She carefully closed the door behind her but before she could turn around, she felt tiny arms wrap around her waist. She smiled the first real smile in weeks as she turned to face the little boy who had finally noticed his sister at the side door.

"Hi, baby" Callie said, wiping away a few tears of happiness that she had gotten to him.

"Callie. How did you get here?" Jude asked as he looked up at his older sister.

"Don't worry about it. Come on. Let's get your stuff together so we can go." Callie began to walk towards the stairs that led to the second floor, with Jude at her heals. Before reaching the first step, she turned around and whispered, "Where is he?"

Jude's only response was a shrug of the shoulders, which led Callie to believe that he was in fact gone, or that he was passed out drunk somewhere. "Ok." She responded to the shrug as she took the lead up the stairs, with her brother in tow. She knew she had to get him out of there tonight.

* * *

As Stef saw Callie quietly slip into the house, she knew something was off. She didn't think Callie was there for a social gathering, and the feeling in the pit of her stomach made her follow the girl in further.

She reached the window as Callie and a smaller boy began to walk up the stairs. She had no idea who the boy was or why she was here, but Stef was glad that she followed her.

* * *

"Ok" Callie whispered into Jude's ear. She had no way of knowing where her old foster father was, and she was 100% sure that she wasn't welcome in the house. "Go get as much stuff as you can pack in your bag and come right back out." She finished, looking intently at her bother to make sure he understood the task.

Jude nodded lightly and walked into the room. Callie quietly stepped into his room, but kept her stance towards the stairs. If that monster found them, she wanted to be the first to know, and be able to protect her brother just like she had done her entire life.

* * *

Stef reached for her gun as she grabbed ahold of the doorknob. She didn't know if she would need it or not, but the increasing worry increased her cautious nature. She made sure to clear each room, scanning them carefully before making her way to the stairs.

Before she was able to reach her foot on the first step, she heard a loud thud and a billowing voice.

Without a second thought, Stef ran up the stairs, gun pointed straight out in front of her. She stopped to listen for any more noises indicating where Callie or the little boy was. A soft sob gained Stef's attention and she made her way towards the location of the cry. She carefully walked towards the door and lowered her gun slightly. She didn't want to scare whoever was crying.

When she reached the room, she was taken back by the sight in front of her. A little boy was huddled in the far corner of the room, arms wrapped around himself and rocking in a rhythmic motion. She looked around for Callie, but she wasn't in sight.

Stef put her gun back into its holster and lifted her hands up as to show the boy she meant no harm. "Hey. My name is Stef and I'm a police officer. Can you tell me your name?"

The frightened look that was plastered on the boy's face made Stef's heart break. She was about to ask once more when another thud erupted through the house, followed by an angry male voice. Stef's head swiveled from the door to the boy. "Ok, honey. I will be right back. I promise. Ok?" Stef tried to assure the boy as she inched her way out of the room. With one last look back at the pained face, she pulled out her gun once more and exited the room.

"I'm sorry." Callie whispered as the oxygen left her lungs. He had a strong grasp on Callie's throat and was glaring down at her.

"Shut your mouth. How dare you sneak into my house after what you did, or call the police? So shut up so I can think of what to do." He snarled and finally released his grip. Callie fell to the ground, gasping for air. "I said shut up!" He yelled and his heavy boot collided with the girl's stomach. She grabbed her stomach and winced in pain. It took every fiber in her being to keep from screaming.

"POLICE!" Stef's voice bellowed through the room and for a moment, Callie could relax slightly knowing that someone was there with her. "Get down on your knees, now!" The voice commanded once more as she kept her gun pointed at the man. As he shot a death glare at Callie and fell down to his knees, Stef looked over at Callie. "Are you ok, sweets?" She asked as she began to cuff the man.

Callie couldn't utter a single word, but stood up and ran out of the room. Wincing in extreme pain, Callie toppled into Jude's room and found him curled up in a ball in the corner of the room.

"Jude!" Callie cried as her head began spinning due to lack of oxygen and from the kick to her stomach. She tried to move closer to the boy, but instantly felt herself sway until blackness took over and she was on the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey wonderful readers! I am back from vacation. I want to keep writing like a crazy person, but ya know end of summer = getting ready for the year etc. ****I will try to keep posting. **

**All of the follows and reviews and favorites have been amazing! Thanks for believing in my writing! I made this chapter a little longer because you all had to wait a week. **

**Keep reading and reviewing! **

* * *

"Callie! Callie!" Jude screamed as he ran to his unconscious sister. He shook her gently, but when she didn't respond, he began to panic.

"Callie! You have to wake up! Please! Please Callie! The boy pleaded as he stared down at his sister, tears falling rapidly.

At the lack of response, Jude angrily wiped the tears away from his face and got up from his crouching position. He made his way over to the door, dropped back to the floor, and peaked his head out. He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding when he saw that the hall was clear, and he inched his way out.

"Stef!" He barely whispered. He knew that his foster father had either passed out or was with the police officer, since Callie was able to get back to him, but he was still uneasy.

"Stef!" he called once again as he made his way to the end of the hallway where he could hear the woman talking.

"Backup to 946 W. Lindon Rd. Suspect apprehended. Two victims; children; male and female."

Jude sighed in relief when he heard Stef's voice. He got lost in the voice and momentarily forgot why he walked into the hallway in the first place.

He carefully took a few more steps towards the police officer's voice and found his own voice much stronger. "Stef!"

"Hey buddy." Stef's voice came from the room, but he didn't see her. "Everything's gonna be ok. Can you go by Callie?" She asked in a gently but urgent tone.

_How does she know her name?_ Jude thought to himself before exclaiming "She needs help!"

He heard Stef let out a sigh before she replied "Ok what's your name, sweetie?"

The boy knew he wasn't supposed to let anyone know any personal information; Callie had taught him that. However, there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him feel like he could trust her.

"J…Jude" he spoke softly.

Apparently the woman was able to hear him because she responded right away. "Ok, Jude. I need you to listen to me." She halted her conversation with the boy momentarily to take care of the man who was still fighting in his cuffs. Stef's plan had been to take him outside and away from the kids immediately, but with Jude in the hallway, Stef knew she had no choice to keep him at bay right there.

"Sorry. Ok Jude, you still there?"

"Yeah"

"Good. All right I need you to go by Callie and stay right next to her. W want you to close the door and lock it so I can get this guy out of here." Stef spoke quickly and with eagerness in her voice; she wanted to get the man out of the house and away from the kids.

Jude nodded his head at first, but then shook it and cried "But Callie needs help! She's not moving!"

Stef froze. She knew Callie needed medical attention ASAP. Taking a deep breath, she spoke to the boy again. "Ok Jude. I need you to do as I said before; go to Callie and lock the door." Stef let out a breath of relief when she hears sirens getting louder. "And I will find you as soon as my police friends take this bad man away."

Jude sniffled but replied with an "ok".

"I need you to be very brave. Can you do that for me?" Stef could sense the fear in the boy's voice.

Jude responded with a strengthened "yes. I'm going to go by Callie."

Stef waited to hear the door shut before forcefully grabbing the foster father and shoving him out the door as three other police officers made their way up the stairs.

"Take him. I'll be down in a bit. Gotta get to the kids." Stef yelled, as she turned back around and tan to the only door that was closed. She knocked feverously and yelled "Jude! It's me! It's Stef! You can unlock the door."

After a moment, Stef heard a click and opened the door quickly.

* * *

Lena couldn't sleep. She hadn't heard from Stef in almost an hor and she was beyond worried.

She finally gave up on trying to sleep and got out of bed, making sure to grab her phone in case Stef called. She decided to check on her kids while she was up, that way she would be distracted, even for a short while.

She softly knocked on Brandon's door and opened it, to her surprise, she found him not practicing the piano, but lying on his bed. It didn't seem like he was sleeping; his lights were all on, so she called his name.

At the sound of Lena's voice, Brandon sat up instantly and rushed to his textbooks. "Sorry. Just takin' a little break. I promise I'm almost done." His voice sounded as if he had been crying.

"Everything alright?" Lena asked as she moved further into the room.

Without looking up, Brandon replied with a quick "Yeah. Just gotta finish a couple more things."

Lena knew there was something more to the boy's strange actions, but she didn't want to push it; at least not when Stef was gone, just in case it was something he wanted or needed to talk with her about it.

She simply smiled slightly and ensured, "You know you can tell me anything, right?" She knew she wasn't his biological mom, but she wanted him to know that she would always treat him like he was her biological son.

This time, Brandon turned around to face Lena and his face softened. "I know. I'm just focusing on this stupid audition."

Lena crinkled her forehead in confusion. "I thought you were excited about this audition. What happened?"

Brandon sighed ad looked down at his hands. "I dodo. It's nothing really. I just want it to be over so I can focus on other stuff." He began. Before either of them knew it, his voice began to speed up and he started pacing the room. "I mean I love playing and I know this shouldn't take all of my time, but I just wanna be the best. I mean is this what I really wanna be and do? I mean I know I have tune but…

"Woah, woah! Brandon!" Lena interrupted as she reached out and ceased his pacing with her arms. "Slow down. Take a breath." She looked at him with concerned eyes.

"I'm sorry" Brandon said as he found his way back to his homework.

"It's ok, bud. But what…" she began before he cut her off. "It's ok. I'm just gonna finish my homewok and go to bed."

"You sure?" Lena questioned, her face still concerned.

"Promise" Brandon smiled and nodded.

Lena sighed as she too smiled at the teen. "Alright. But I'm here if you do wanna talk."

"I know." He responded with another nod.

"Night" she said as she turned towards the door.

"Night" he replied as he turned all of his attention to his textbooks, letting out a long breath.

As Lena shut the door behind her, she sighed and shook her head. She knew Brandon needed to sort out his thoughts, but she didn't want to push him; that isn't how she liked to get her children to deal with their problems. She wanted them to come to her; that is until they truly needed her to intervene.

_I'll talk to Stef when she gets home._ Lena thought and suddenly was reminded of where her wife went. She looked down at her phone and sadly sighed when she saw that nothing was there from her wife. She was happy that she was able to be distracted for the short time, and knew she needed to keep the distractions to keep her emotions and anxiety at bay.

Lena wiped the tear that slipped down her face as she walked towards her daughter's room.

* * *

Stef kept her emotions at bay for the sake of Jude, but at the first sight of Callie, she sucked in a huge breath and a tear fell for the girl. "Is Callie your sister?" Stef asked as she kneeled next to the girl and began to check for a heartbeat and breathing.

"Yeah." The boy croaked as he stared at the two women on the floor.

Stef was immediately relieved when she saw the girl's chest slowly rise up and down and felt a faint heart beat. "Ok Jude." She began as she heard the medics approach the door. "Come with me." She stood up and reached a hand out to the small boy. He immediately flinched and took a few steps back.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm a police officer, remember?" Stef was almost pleading for the boy to come with her. She knew the medics needed room and she didn't want him to see what they were doing to his sister.

"No! I can't leave Callie!" Jude yelled as he tried to get closer to the girl.

Stef sighed with sadness at the boy's worried tone, but held him back; much against his will.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Jude cried as he squirmed and tried to wiggle out of Stef's grasp in a panic.

"Sweetie." Stef began gently. "We have to let the medics take care of your sister. I promise we will go to the hospital with her and you can wait in her room."

Suddenly all of the color drained from the boy's face and he quit struggling against Stef. "Callie doesn't like hospitals." He barely whispered.

Before Stef could respond, Jude snapped back and began screaming for his sister once again at the sight of the medics rolling the girl out on a stretcher.

Stef took his hands. "Look at me" She waited until his eyes met hers and she gently squeezed his small hands. "We're gonna take my car and follow the ambulance the whole way there. I promise you can be with her as soon as the doctors say it's ok." She saw the tears begin to form in the boys eyes as she bent down to his level. "Do you trust me?" She asked.

Jude nodded slightly and Stef smiled. "Let's go then." Stef stood up and the two walked hand and hand out of the house; Stef's free hand clutching the small Skippy backpack which contained all of the boy's belongings.

* * *

At the sound of a soft knock at her door, Mariana looked up from her phone and smiled as her mom opened the door.

"Hi, sweetie." Lena said, trying to sound as normal as possible She didn't want her daughter to find out that Stef was gone and worry too.

"Hi, mama" the girl replied before turning back to her phone.

Lena sat on the edge of her daughter's bed and rested a hand on the phone, gently lowering it until it reached the bed. "Hey!" Mariana exclaimed.

"I wanna talk to my daughter, not to her phone." Lena smirked as Mariana smiled slightly.

"Ok fine" She said, rolling her eyes. "Sorry" she quickly added; knowing that her mother didn't like that attitude.

Lena smiled as her daughter caught her own eye roll. She had really grown up since she had first come to stay with them.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she looked at Mariana and smiled. "So, I haven't heard the latest about school. Care to catch me up?" Lena asked, knowing it would spark the girl's attention.

Mariana's face lit up. She loved to talk and sometimes, when she began to ramble, she got annoyed looks and even sometimes, light punches from her siblings. She knew that her daughter struggled being not only a teenager, but also being the only girl in a house of two older brothers, and she could see that Mariana was so happy she could disclose the latest news to her mother.

"Ok! Well Kyle; you know Kyle? The one with the long black hair? Kinda weird looking?"

"Mariana!" Lena chastised, shaking her head at her daughter's comment.

"I'm sorry, mom. But do you know who I'm talking about?" She looked up and nodded her own head as her mom nodded yes to the question.

"Ok. So he told Maddy, you know who Maddy is, right?" She asked intently.

"Love. I'm the vice principal. Let's just assume I know who you are talking about" Lena replied with a chuckle.

"Ok fine. So Kyle told Maddy that he would take her to prom with her like two months ago. But last week, he…"

Suddenly, Lena's phone rang.

The woman's heart stopped as she looked down to see that it was Stef calling. "Mari, baby" Lena began as she stood up, staring at her phone. "Gimmie one minute, ok? I have to take this call." Lena quickly kissed her daughter on the head and walked out of the room, phone to her ear.

"Stef?!" She exclaimed; eyes widening and voice dripping with worry.

"Hi, love. I'm so sorry" Stef's voice sounded tired over the phone.

"What happened? Where are you?" Lena nearly screamed into the phone.

"Hon, I need you to calm down, please. Ok? Lena?" Stef's voice managed to calm Lena down, as it almost always did.

Lena took a deep breath and sighed into the phone. "Ok. I'm calm."

"Ok. I found Callie and apparently her brother."

"Her brother?" Lena asked confused. She had no idea that the girl had a brother and she wondered why she wasn't notified of this before. She shook her head of her thoughts as Stef continued to explain.

"Well I don't know all of the details, but year I think so." Stef's voice was between formal, as if she were completing a police report, and worrisome, like she was talking about one of her own children.

"So are you… I mean are you calling Bill? Or are you bringing them back here? Or…" Lena's voice began to question but was stopped when the other voice answered quickly.

"I'm not sure, love. I have to go take care of some things here. I'm with the kids and I promise to keep you updated. But please, baby. Please get some sleep" Stef added; knowing full-well that her wife wouldn't sleep unless she begged her to.

"But Stef!" Lena began anxiously.

"Baby I have to go. I'll text you. Promise. Please just trust me." Was the last Lena heard of Stef before an 'I love you.'

Stef slumped back into the seat she was occupying in the waiting room. She let her phone drop in her lap and began to rub her temples with her thumbs. She decided not to tell Lena where she was, because she knew her wife would worry, and at the moment, there was nothing she could do for Callie, and worrying would only make it more difficult to deal with anything the kids had going on. She looked over at Jude who chose to sit in the furthest seat from Stef. He sat straight up, eyes alert and boys completely still.

She debated sitting next to the young boy, but she didn't want to scare him. She already had a bad feeling about Callie's past and she was sure that Jude's past was probably just as bad.

The two waited in silence for what seemed like forever until a doctor called out Callie's name.

Both Stef and Jude shot up out of their seats and hurried to the doctor.

"Can I see Callie now?" Jude asked, trying to keep his tears from falling.

The doctor smiled down at the boy before speaking to both Jude and Stef. "Callie sustained a concussion ad two broken ribs. She is in a recovery room now, but is in a lot of pain." He explained gently.

"Can I see her?" Jude asked again, his eyes pleading.

"Sure buddy." The doctor responded. "Follow me."

The three walked down a long hallway and made it to Callie's room at the end of the hall. The doctor looked down at Jude when they reached the door. "Remember, she it in a lot of pain and might be a little groggy." Jude nodded eagerly and sped through the door as soon as the doctor opened it.

Before Stef could follow Jude into the room, she was stopped by the doctor's arm.

"I hadn't gotten a chance to introduce myself. I'm Doctor Louis Fendmen." He extended his hand to greet Stef. As she shook it, he continued. "I had some other things I wanted to talk to you about your daughter."

Before he could continue, Stef spoke up. "Uhh. She's not my daughter. We just got her as a foster child. So we don't yet know all of her medical history."

"Oh. Alright." Dr. Fendmen said, writing something on the chart. "Well there is something we saw that you should be aware of, or maybe you are aware of."

Stef crinkled her forehead at the doctor, indicating she had no idea what he was referring to.

"We found some cute on Callie's wrists."

Stef's eyes closed.

"Self inflicted."

Stef drew in a breath.

"They are very recent." He finished as Stef blew out the breath slowly.

* * *

Lena clicked off the phone from Stef's call and shook her head. She knew her wife know what she was doing, but the lack of information made her nervous.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, she walked back into Mariana's room, "Hey baby. I'm sorry." She said, smiling.

Mariana, not to Lena's surprise, was on her phone once more. At the sound of Lena's voice, Mariana quickly put her phone down. "It's fine." She said quickly as she got up, making sure to grab her phone as well. "Uhh I'm actually gonna just go to bed early. I'm not feelin' good." She said, collecting her pajamas.

Lena raised an eyebrow. _She was fine a minute ago._ Lena thought to herself. "What hurts?"

"My stomach hurts and I have a headache" She responded, mustering up a sick look.

Lena reached a hand up to her daughter's forehead and frowned. "You don't have a fever"

"I'm sure I will feel better tomorrow after some sleep." Mariana said, avoiding direct eye contact as she gathered other things to take with her to the bathroom. "I promise, mama. I'm also really tired."

"Uhh ok" Lena hesitantly said as she looked at her daughter and said "Goodnight sweetie. Love you. I'll check on you later. I'm in my room if you need me." She ended with a tender kiss to her daughter's forehead and smiled.

Mariana nodded "Ok. Love you too."

* * *

"I didn't know… I mean… Uhh I don't… She was only here for umm" Stef stumbled over her words as her mind scrambled. _When did she? She was with us until…_ Suddenly it clicked.

_The bathroom._

"Oh my god" Stef thought out loud as she realized why the girl was in the bathroom crying.

"It isn't too bad. She didn't need stiches. We just wrapped it." Dr. Fendmen tried to calm the worried mother.

"Uhh ok. Umm I'm gonna see her. Uhh thank you. We'll.. err my wife and I will stay with her." Stef was usually composed; or she was when it was work related. But when it came to her kids…

_What? I just met this girl today._ Stef thought as she wondered why she was as worried about Callie as she was when Mariana was in a car accident or when Jesus broke his leg. Stef couldn't put her finger on it, but somehow, Callie had already found her way into her heart; even thought she was sure Callie didn't feel the same way.

Dr. Fendmen nodded as Stef tried to find her words. "It's alright. Why don't you go visit for a little while. I'll come back later."

Stef nodded her head and turned to the door. She twisted the handle and peaked in. Her heart melted when she saw Jude on the bed, curled up next to a sleeping Callie.

As she got closer, she got a clear look at the girl. She was hooked up to numerous machines and an oxygen mask was helping her breathe, as her broken ribs made that task hard. She looked peaceful, under the circumstances. It's as if she knew Jude was there with her.

Stef sat down in one of the more comfortable looking chairs and pulled out her phone to text Lena.

At the sound of the chair moving, Jude suddenly looked up from his sister's side. His wide eyes darted around until Stef whispered, "Jude. It's just me. You can stay with Callie. I'm just gonna take care of some things, ok?"

The boy sleepily nodded and allowed himself to once again relax next to the sleeping girl.

Stef watched until Jude found a comfy spot and stopped moving around before looking down at her phone. She knew she needed some time to think about how she was going to explain all of this to Lena.

* * *

After leaving her daughter's room, Lena made her way to her twin's bedroom.

"Jesus?" She called as she knocked. A mumbled "Come in" indicated that he was at least alive, though the state of his room and his homework status was still unknown. She opened the door and shook her head at her son playing video games.

"Hey, babe. Finish your homework?" She asked, looking around the messy room. It was amazing how opposite her twins were.

"Yup." He responded; his eyes never once leaving the screen.

Before saying goodnight to her son, she spotted an open bag of chips next to Jesus's chair. "Hey. Pause that." She said, arms crossed. Once he did as she asked, she continued. "Chips? In your room? This late at night? Chips?" Lena asked gesturing to the open bag. She didn't like her kids to eat a lot of unhealthy food, especially this late at night.

Jesus looked sheepishly at his mom as he reached over, picked up the bad and threw it in his trashcan. "Sorry. It won't happen again." He said guiltily.

Lena raised an eyebrow at his apology. She was too tired and nervous to argue, so she simply gave him a stern look, followed by a 'goodnight' and an 'I love you'.

"Night, mom. Love you." He answered as he picked up his controller.

"That goes off in 10 minutes." She added, looking at the video game.

"Uhh fine." He replied with a groan.

Before she could say anything in response, her phone buzzed and the screen indicated that she had gotten a text from her wife. She started towards the door and took a deep breath. She closed her son's door and opened the text.

_Hi, love. I know I owe a huge explanation, but I am at the hospital with Callie and her brother. She is ok, considering, now, but I need to stay with her tonight. I'm so sorry, baby. I feel terrible, but I don't know when I will be home. I'm gonna get ahold of Bill as soon as I can and begin to get this figured out. I will call you in a little bit, but Callie is sleeping now and I don't want to wake her. I love you so much. –Stef_

Lena sighed and re-read the message. She hesitated for a moment before responding.

_It's fine, baby. I know you're doing your job. Please keep me updated and call me soon. Kids are going to bed soon. I love you so much. –Lena_

Stef looked down at her phone and read the response from her wife. She sighed and tossed her phone onto the chair next to her. She hated to keep her wife out of all of this, but she didn't know how much to say and saying it over the phone wouldn't be fair to Lena or Callie.

The small whimpering sound coming from the hospital bed pulled Stef out of her thoughts. She quietly stood up from her chair and looked over at the bed. She saw Callie's face scrunched as if she were in pain and her head tossed back and forth. Slight grunts and mumbles escaped her mouth every so often and her hands tried to reach up to remove her oxygen mask.

Stef quickly reached Callie and gently pushed her hand down from her oxygen mask. "Shhh. Callie. You're ok." Stef whispered.

Jude began to stir next to the girl and Stef spoke to him next. "Jude. It's Stef. Everything is ok." Jude woke up fully at the sound of Stef's voice; his face painted with a look of panic. "Shhh, love. You're ok. It's alright." Stef assured once again. Jude's face softened and he rubbed his eyes as he fully woke up.

Stef's attention turned back to the girl who was still whimpering and moving around in the bed. "Hey buddy. Why don't you go get a snack for you and Callie?" She said, pulling some money out from her wallet. Jude looked at her skeptically, as Stef thought he would, and Stef could see that he was thinking it over in his head. "It's ok, sweets. I'm not going to do anything to Callie. I'm just going to wait here with her until Dr. Fendmen comes back. Remember you can trust me."

Jude looked at Stef once more and saw the same gentleness in her eyes that he saw when she came to help Callie in the house and nodded. "Ok" He said as he got off of the bed and took the money from Stef. The woman smiled and watched him walk out the door. "I'll be right here when you come back." She assured him and he slipped out of the room.

Stef turned her attention back to Callie who had managed to pull her oxygen mask off as her movements began to increase. The woman quickly moved towards the girl and grabbed ahold of her oxygen mask. She placed it back over Callie's nose and mouth. The girl tried once more to remove the mask from her face, but this time, Stef rested her hand on Callie's and refrained her from doing so again.

At Stef's touch, Callie screamed and her head began to thrash from side to side violently.

"Callie! Callie, sweets. Come on, wake up." Stef began, she didn't know if the girl was having a nightmare or not, but she knew she needed to get the girl to wake up.

When Callie's whimpers and movements continued, Stef sighed and moved onto the bed. She softly whispered reassuring words to Callie, alternating between "Shhh you're ok" and "You are safe, wake up, love." When the girl still didn't respond to Stef's words, she tried another route. She ran her fingers through her hair, much like she did to Mariana when she used to get nightmares. Almost instantly, Callie began to relax and her head slowed its movements down. Stef continued the steady movements until the girl had fallen back to sleep.

Stef didn't get her to wake up, but at least she got her to settle back down. She sighed as she looked at the teen, whom was once again still and shook her head. She wanted to help the girl, but she couldn't determine how to do so.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for waiting. So sorry it has taken so long. All of my stories will get updates, it just may take some time. **

**Reviews are very much appreciated and thank you to those who have already reviewed! **

**I know this is a very short chapter, but the next chapter will be long and I needed to split the two up. **

**Thanks for reading! **

The night turned out to be a rough one for the entire family.

Back at the Adams Foster house, Lena couldn't sleep. She tried reading, drinking tea, even watching TV, but her mind would not shut off. She was worried about her wife, obviously, but for some reason, even though she had only met the girl that morning, she was worried about her too, and even her brother, who she hadn't even met.

Lena decided the only thing that might possibly comfort her enough to get some sleep was to talk to her wife. She didn't know if Stef had gone to sleep or what state she and the two kids were in, so she decided to text her first to see if it was a good time to call.

* * *

Mariana pulled the covers all the way up to her chin and sighed. She had gotten in way over her head and she was beginning to wonder how much more of this lying and sneaking around she could take.

Suddenly, her phone lit up and a picture of her friend Kelsey appeared on the screen. Mariana let out a tired sigh and put the phone to her ear. "What, Kels? I'm not really in the mood to talk." Mariana began. Her annoyance quickly turned to fear as Kelsey began to speak.

"Mariana! I don't know how, but my mom found out about the pills. I think one of the other moms found out and told her about it, I dono. But she totally flipped out. I told her I found them at school, but she didn't buy it." She blurted out.

Mariana's face paled as Kelsey continued to explain her worst nightmare.

"I hate my mom." Kelsey continued. "She wants to call the freaking school and make them do like a locker check or something to find out where the pills came from."

Mariana froze. She knew her mom would be apart of whatever check they did and she would get all of the details of what Kelsey's mom heard and found. Before she could respond, she felt a lurch in her stomach.

* * *

Stef didn't hear her phone buzz from Lena's text due to the fact that she was still sitting next to Callie, stroking her hair. The girl had fallen back into a restless sleep; at some moments she was completely still, but at others, she was mumbling and unsettled. Stef figured it was best to just stay with her and continue to smooth the girl's hair in order to make the unsettled parts easier on Callie.

10 minutes after Stef first sat on the bed, Jude came rushing back in, two waters and a couple of snacks in his arms. He quickly assessed the room and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Callie was still in the bed.

Before he began to question why Stef was sitting next to her, the woman spoke up. "Hey, sweetie. Callie was just having a bad dream and she seemed to calm down when I talked to her. It's ok. She is ok." Stef made sure she made that last part perfectly clear. Jude had only just met her hours before and she knew it was probably extremely frightening to see someone sitting next to his sister.

Jude processed the information for a moment before nodding his head.

Jude began to rock back and forth on his feet and look down nervously. Stef knew he wanted to be with Callie, but she was nervous about how the girl would react to the halt of the physical touch. After a short time of contemplating, she realized that Callie probably knew Jude's scent, touch, and breathing like the back of her hand, and would probably feel safer with him there.

She looked up and smiled at the young boy. "Hey, sweets. Would you mind switching with me? I need to go to the bathroom."

At the offer, Jude's face lit up and he nodded vigorously. He put the food and waters down and hurried to Stef's side. Carefully, as to not wake or startle the girl, Stef removed herself from the bed and Jude flew in to take her spot. As soon as Jude found his sister's hand, he grabbed it and curled up into her side. As if she was wide awake, Callie began to stroke the back of Jude's hand before relaxing once more.

Stef smiled and walked over to the chair where she had left her purse. Right away she could see that Lena had called her 20 minutes ago. _Crap! _Stef thought to herself and looked back at the siblings in the bed. Carefully, Stef walked to the door and slipped outside in order to call her wife.

* * *

Lena lifted her phone up to her ear. She hoped that Stef was able to talk. Lena groaned when she heard Stef's voicemail begin but decided to leave a message asking her wife to call her when possible.

Before Lena could get a single word out, a sudden bang distracted her. She threw open her door and saw that the bathroom door had been flung open. She knew it was bad when she heard the sounds of vomiting.

Momentarily forgetting she was going to leave a message, she quickly said _Hi, love. Sorry call me when possible. One of the kids is sick. Think its Mari. Love you. _

She clicked off the phone before grabbing a cup and washcloth from her own bathroom and making her way into the kids' bathroom. Just as she thought, it was her daughter who was bent over the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach.

_Hmmm. Guess she really wasn't feeling well._ Lena though, thinking back to the conversation she had with her daughter earlier that night. She sighed as she made her way to her daughter, only stopping to wet the washcloth and fill the cup with water. "My baby" Lena cooed as she knelt down next to her daughter and gathered her hair. She opened a drawer, found a hair tie and used it to keep the girl's hair out of her face. Once her hair was out of the way, Lena began to rub soothing circles on her daughter's back.

Mariana felt tears falling as she threw up. It felt like she was in there for hours before the vomit ceased. At some point, Mariana felt her hair being pulled back and a hand on her back, but she was so distracted that she didn't acknowledge it.

Slowly pulling her head up, she began to reach her hand up to flush the toilet, but was surprised when it flushed on its own. Blinking some tears away, she looked up and saw her mom and knew it was her who had flushed it. In a sigh of relief, Mariana fell back into her mother's arms and let her head rest on her chest. Before Mariana had the chance to relax, Lena had a cup at her mouth. "Here, baby." Lena said, but Mariana didn't move. "Sweetie you don't have to drink it, just wash your mouth out." Lena used her free hand to push some of the loose hair from her daughter's forehead and used the other to put the cup against the girl's lips. "Come on, baby. You'll feel better."

Lena's voice sounded distant to Mariana, who was occupied by thoughts of what Kelsey had said. _There are at least 5 people who I have given pills to. _The thought as she realized any one of them could reveal her secret. _And Jesus knows his pills are missing. _She remembered her brother's questioning. _He's gonna tell moms. The police. Oh my god I can't go to…_ Mariana's thoughts were drown out by the sound of her vomiting once again into the toilet. Luckily, she had pushed off of her mom's lap in order to make it on time.

Lena's face saddened as she sat forward and began to rub more circles on her daughter's back. "You're ok. You're alright, baby."

Not long after she began to vomit for the second time, Mariana felt herself begin to dry heave, indicating she didn't have anything left in her stomach. The acid that began to make its way up made her cough and cry.

Lena grabbed the washcloth and put it on the back of the girl's neck. "Shhh baby. Come on. Have some water. It'll help, honey." Lena begged as she put her hand to Mariana's forehead to see if she had a fever. Before she could fully tell if she had a fever, Mariana fell back into her, breathing heavily and trying to stifle her sobs. "Baby girl." Lena said as she put the cup to her daughter's mouth again. "Swish and spit." She directed and sighed in relief when she opened her mouth enough for Lena to pour the water into her mouth.

Once Mariana had finished cleaning out her mouth somewhat, Lena grabbed the washcloth from the back of the girl's neck and began to wipe Mariana's face. "Feel better, baby?" Lena asked as she looked down. A faint nod from her daughter implied that Lena could begin to move her from the bathroom.

Slowly, Lena turned Mariana's face towards hers to talk to her. "Ok, sweet love. We're gonna get you out of here and into my bed, ok?" She asked and waited for a response. At the slight nod once more, Lena kissed her daughter's forehead and began to stand her up.

When they both were on their feet, Lena could feel Mariana swaying from lack of food. She quickly reached out to steady her and pulled her into a hug. "Come on, baby." She whispered into the girl's ear as she led Mariana out of the bathroom and into the master bedroom.

* * *

As Stef listened to Lena's frantic message, she felt a pang of guilt that she had left Lena alone with a sick child. Sighing, she texted back _I'm so sorry, baby. I'll try and keep my phone on me. Call when you can. Tell Mari I love her. –Stef _

As she put her phone back in her pocket, Stef took a deep breath and walked back into the room. She was happy to see that the kids were still sleeping and smiled at the sight. It was like they fit perfectly into one another. _How did these beautiful babies get put through so much?_ Stef wondered as she grabbed a blanket and reclined into one of the chairs.

Before she could continue to wonder, Stef drifted off into a much-needed sleep.

* * *

Lena gently laid Mariana on her side of the bed and went to grab some new pajamas for her daughter. On her way back from the girl's room, she grabbed the washcloth and ran some new cold water onto it. "Here are some new pjs, love." Lena said gently as she walked into the room.

Half asleep, Mariana tried to change her clothes, but it was Lena who took over most of the work. After some struggling, Mariana was in new clothes and Lena leaned her back into the pillows.

After throwing the clothes into the washing machine, Lena went to grab a trashcan and placed it on the floor next to her daughter. After fixing the washcloth that was still on the girl's forehead, Lena shut the light off and made her way to the other side of the bed. She carefully slid in on Stef's side and put her hand on Mariana's arm. "Feeling better, baby?" She asked. Mariana grunted and Lena sighed. "Ok. Get some sleep, love. I put a trashcan next to you just in case."

At the lack of response, Lena sighed once more, but continued to stroke the girl's arm, occasionally planting a soft kiss to her forehead.

Lena was suddenly exhausted and began to drift off into sleep herself, her hand continuing to move until she finally fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello lovely readers. Sorry it has been so long. I'm hoping to be writing more for this story quicker, which means more updates, YAY!**

**Thank you so much for the reviews. They have been so kind. **

**Keep reading and reviewing. Even a one word review really helps my motivation to continue to write. **

* * *

Morning came too fast for the entire family. Stef was woken up by the sound of knocking at the door. Being a light sleeper, she woke up immediately and made her way to the door. She opened it and was met with the face of Dr. Fendmen. As to not wake up the children who were still sleeping in the bed, Stef slipped outside to talk with the doctor.

"How was the night?" He asked, not beating around the bush.

Stef sighed. "It was a rough night for both of them. Whenever Callie woke up, Jude did too. However, it was especially hard on Callie. I stopped counting the number of nightmares she had after 5." Stef said sadly.

"Children who have been through as much trauma as she has tend to have multiple nightmares, especially when they are in a new environment and with new people." He said sadly. "But I wanted to talk to you about the next step for Callie."

Stef nodded and hugged her arms around herself.

"Physically, she will be fine in about a week, her concussion will take the longest to heal, so that needs to be watched. However, her mental stability is very weak. I don't have her medical history on file, so I don't know what she has been through medically, and I am not sure how much access you have to her other files, but it is something that should be looked into sooner rather than later."

Stef pinched the bridge of her nose. She had woken up not more than 10 minutes ago and she could already feel a headache forming. "Uhh ok. I will get in contact with her PO as soon as I can."

Dr. Fendmen nodded in understanding. "I know you have been put in a very difficult position, but based on the reaction Callie has had in the hospital for just one night, taking her home might be more beneficial for all three of you."

Stef nodded. She knew he was right, but she also knew that it wasn't that simple. She looked at her watch for the first time since she woke up and groaned. _It is only 5?_ She thought, trying not to think about the number of hours she got of sleep. "Ok. I'm gonna talk to my wife. But are you sure she can be discharged now? So soon?" She asked with a hint of confusion.

Dr. Fendmen nodded. "Her injuries don't require the specialized equipment we have here to help heal. Everything you need can be found in your home, and her body will heal quicker if she is more relaxed, which she obviously isn't here." He explained.

Stef nodded again and sighed. "Ok. I'll let you know what we decide." She answered and felt around her pockets for her phone. She groaned and realized that she left it in the room. Turning towards the door she looked over her shoulder at the doctor. "Thank you." She said and opened the door.

* * *

"Uhhhh" Lena groaned as she reached over to turn her alarm off. _5 am already?_ She thought to herself as she stretched and looked over at her daughter who was still sleeping. Forcing herself to get up and get ready before her other two kids got up, Lena kicked off the covers and tucked them back around Mariana. She leaned down and gave her a kiss on her temple before moving towards the bathroom.

Mariana felt her mom get off of the bed and shortly after kiss her on the head. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked confused as she saw her mother walk into her own bathroom. _Did I sleep here last…_ She began to think but as her memory came back from the phone call, she felt her stomach turn again. Leaning over the bed, she threw up the small amount of water she had drank last night.

"Mari?" Lena asked as she poked her head out from the bathroom door. "Oh baby." She said sadly as she hurriedover to her daughter who had finished throwing up, but her head stil hung down off of the bed. "Mariana, sweetie." Lena said with a concerned voice. "Baby is it only your stomach?" She asked as she gently pulled her daughter's head back onto the pillow and pushed some sweaty strands of hair off of her forehead.

Mariana winced. Not at the pain in her stomach, but at the spinning in her head about what she was going to do. Swallowing slightly, she looked up at her mother and forced a smile. "I'm ok. Promise. I guess I just ate something bad last night." She said as she tried to get up.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Lena said as she gently pushed the girl back down. "You have nothing in your stomach, love. You're gonna faint if you try to get up." She said as she pulled her daughter's face towards her own. "Sweetie, are you sure that is all?" She asked, trying to find the answer in her eyes.

Mariana swallowed once more and shook her head. "I'm just hungry." She said, hoping that her mom would stop asking questions so she could have some time alone to think of what she was going to do next.

Lena looked down, eyes scrunched in concern. "Ok, baby." She said sweetly and planted three kisses on her daughter's forehead. "Still no fever. That's good." She said with a smile.

Mariana nodded and relaxed back into the pillow as Lena left the room to get some food for her daughter.

As soon as Lena left the room, Mariana pushed the covers off and got out of the bed. She steadied herself against the side of the bed as she made her way to her room. She needed to get to her phone before her mom did. Her head pounded and she thought she was going to pass out at any second. However, she continued to tell herself that she had to just grab her phone then she could go back into her moms' bed.

Stumbling slightly into her room, Mariana easily found her phone on her bed, grabbed it, and began back to her moms' bedroom. The walk back was easier, and she was able to get back quicker. She hurriedly pulled the covers back over her body and lifted her phone up. She saw 5 missed calls and 14 texts from various people. _Damn it!_ She thought to herself. Before she had the chance to read any of the messages, she heard the buzzing of her mom's phone on the table next to her. She looked over and saw it was her other mom calling. Furrowing her brow in confusion, she reached over to answer the call.

"Mom?" She asked. It didn't even dawn on her that it had only been Lena there with her when she had gotten sick.

"Mariana?" Stef asked, the voice throwing her off.

"Yeah. Did you have to go to work?" The girl asked into the phone.

"Yeah, baby. Sorry I'm not there to be with you. How are you feeling?" She asked, concern evident in her tone.

Mariana sighed into the phone. She didn't know how much she knew, and she didn't want her mom to think she needed to come home to be with her as well. "Much better. I think it was something I ate." She said with a nod of her head.

"Ok, well one of us can stay home with you, but I need to talk to mama first so…" Stef began before she was cut off.

"Oh no! I can go to school. It's fine. Just a little upset stomach." She tried to sound perky, when in reality she was dreading either option.

Stef paused for a moment. _Mariana? Wanting to go to school when we said she didn't have to go?_ She thought skeptically. "Ok baby. I'll talk to mama." She said, deciding that she would be able to decide with Lena. "Can you have her call me when she can?" She asked gently.

"Yeah."

"Ok. Bye, sweets. I love you." Stef said, hoping that something would slip about what was really going on.

"Love you" Mariana quickly responded and shut off the phone. She let out a huge breath she didn't know she was holding and put the phone back down on the table next to her.

Stef shook her head. She knew there was something more to Mariana's sickness, and it angered her that she couldn't be there to help her through it. Stef pocketed her phone and made sure the sound was on so she could hear when Lena called. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door once more and entered the room. She was met by a moment of silence followed by slight movements. Stef carefully walked over to the bed and saw that Jude had begun to wake up. Stef stayed at a distance, allowing the boy to have some space.

"Hi, sweets!" She said with a smile when the boy finally opened his eyes.

The young boy smiled and stretched. He looked down at his sister and let out a tired breath.

"I'm sure you're hungry, love." Stef said and reached into her purse for some money. "Why don't you get something to eat for breakfast while I wake your sister up. Then all three of us can talk about hopefully getting out of here today. Sound good?" Stef asked while handing the boy some money.

He looked at the money with wide eyes. He had never been given that much money to go buy whatever kind of food he wanted. He smiled at the thought of leaving the hospital, but a sudden wave of fear took over him.

"I don't wanna leave Callie." He said in a whisper. His eyes began to form huge tears as he looked at his sister.

Stef cocked her head in confusion. "Where do you think we were taking her?"

"I dono. But I know she got in trouble, but it wasn't her fault. She was protecting me." He stated before putting his head down and whispering the next part. "She always protects me."

Stef felt her heart break from the thought of a young teen having the responsibility of taking care of her little brother. "Hey." Stef said, looking directly at Jude. "We are not going to let you two be split up. I'm a police officer remember? I have some good connections." She said with a wink. "Ok? So get something to eat, and before you know it, we will be out of here." She said as she smiled.

Jude smiled for a moment but it turned into a frown as he asked, "Where are we going to stay?"

Stef smiled and replied, "With me."

* * *

Once Lena heard the shower turn on, she knew that Brandon was up. Jesus was not a morning person and would either shower the night before or scramble to shower in the last minutes before going to school. Either way, she knew it was her oldest son who was awake.

The woman picked up the toast and juice that she had prepared for her daughter and started up the stairs and into her room.

"Hey, baby." She said with a smile. She put the tray down onto the table and sat on the edge of the bed. "How you feeling?" She asked.

Avoiding the question, Mariana grabbed Lena's phone and handed it to her. "Mom called. She wants you to call her back now." She said matter-of-factly.

Lena noted the change of conversation and mentally took note of it. "Ok, sweetheart. I'll call mom if you try and each a couple of bites and drink some juice, ok? I'm taking a sick day to stay home with you, so if you don't feel like eating right now, you can a little later, alright?" She asked as she started to dial her wife's number.

"No!" Mariana said suddenly, causing Lena to pause what she was doing and look down at her daughter. "I mean it's ok. I feel so much better. I can go to school." She said, forcing herself to smile.

Lena raised an eyebrow and looked at her daughter. "You woke up in the middle of the night to get sick and you threw up again this morning. Am I missing something here? What is it celebrity day at school and I missed the memo?" She asked with a slight chuckle.

Mariana annoyingly sighed, "No. I just really don't want to have to make up the work. Plus I really am fine." She said and to prove her point, she took a large bite of her toast and a big gulp of juice.

"I'll talk with mom." She said as she turned to walk out the door for some privacy.

* * *

"With you?" Jude asked. He wanted to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

Stef smiled. "Yes, sweetie. We were taking Callie in for a couple of days and we would love to have you join us."

Jude nodded and smiled.

"Good." Stef replied before holding out the money once more. "Now go get something to eat, ok?"

Jude nodded as he eased himself off of the bed and walked towards Stef. He reached his arm out cautiously, as if she might snach it back at any second. However, she never did and he soon had the money in his own hands.

"Scoot!" Stef said with a chuckle and watched as the young boy left the room.

The woman's smile was plastered on her face. She wondered how badly these kids were treated, but mostly, she wondered what kind of human could treat them in such a way. Shaking her thoughts away, she stood up and walked over to where Jude was lying. She peered down at the girl who looked much too little to be in such a big bed. She really didn't want to wake her, but she knew she needed Callie to hear everything the doctor had already told her.

Stef looked down once more and decided to let her sleep just a little bit more. Suddenly, she felt her pocket buzz and she pulled out her phone. She sighed in relief when she saw her wife's name appear and walked to the other side of the room to answer the call, making sure she could still help Callie is she had another nightmare.

"Hi, love!" Stef said happily into the phone.

"Hi!" Lena responded. It was nice to hear her wife's voice. "Mariana told me you wanted me to call you?"She asked.

"Yeah. That one I need to talk to you about too." Stef responded.

"Mhm. Me too."

"Ok. But first, we need to make some decisions. I know it is difficult not being here and not being able to be with Callie and her brother, but the doctor said it would be best for them to be out of the hospital. Callie has had numerous nightmares and I think being in the hospital has only made them worse." She explained.

"Ok. Well how bad are her injuries?"

"Concussion is the only major thing. Scrapes and bruises as well, but they should heal with no problem." Stef began before turning her head away from the direction of the girl and lowering her voice. "There are also a couple of other things I need to tell you, but it needs to wait until we aren't on the phone."

"Uhh ok, love." Lena answered.

"So We are gonna need to contact Bill asap about this as well as get them both out of here and into our home. I know it is another person, but we cannot split these two up. Lena if you could've seen his face when he thought they were going to be split up, your heart would've melted like mine did."

Lena smiled at her wife's compassion. "Ok, babe. If that is what's best, bring them back. I'll get in touch with Bill. I'm gonna stay home with Mari, so the boys can walk to school." She said as she checked her watch. She heard the shower stop and knew it would only be a short time until both boys were showered and going down to eat.

"Yeah. When I talked to our little diva she was trying to convince me that she could go to school." Stef said.

Lena chuckled. "She said the same thing to me. But I can't for the life of me understand why. She got sick to the point where she had nothing left to throw up, and this morning, she threw up the little bit of water I had given her to drink last night." Lena said as she pushed her hands through her hair.

"Oh. I didn't get the part about this morning. Well, love it's your call, but I think she should be home." Stef said in reply. "And I also think there is something more going on than just some bad food." She concluded.

Lena nodded. "That's what I was thinking too."

"Ok. Keep me posted on my baby girl." Stef said.

"I will. Keep me posted on the kids." She said back.


	8. Chapter 8

**So I know this is a shorter chapter, but I wanted to cut it off at a good spot. I want to thank all of you for your reviews because they keep me motivated to write and make me feel like what I am writing is at least somewhat good. =]**

**Please continue to review! Even if it is something small, it really makes my day. **

**Oh and thanks for all of the follows! You guys blow my mind. **

**Again sorry for the length, but the next chapter will be longer. **

* * *

Stef smiled to herself as she walked back over to the girl who was still sleeping. She loved the sound of her wife's voice and it was a soothing- she knew she was going to need that calming voice when they got home.

Finally, after placing her phone down next to her purse, Stef found herself once again next to Callie. "Callie, sweetie." She whispered, hoping the girl would wake up to just the sound of her voice; she didn't want to frighten the girl by touching her, even if it was gentle.

When she received no response, Stef sat down on the bed and leaned closer so her voice would be louder to the sleeping girl. "Callie, love. I need you to wake up for me." She said.

As if she was shoved awake, Callie's eyes flew open and her fists balled up and formed a protective stance in front of her face.

"Woah! Callie. You're ok, honey!" Stef said as she put her hands up in a nonthreatening gesture. "Its just Stef. You're safe." She continued as she looked directly at the teen to assure her that she wasn't going to harm her.

Callie's face softened and she slowly lowered her hands. "Sorry" She muttered before shrinking back into the bed.

"Its ok, sweets." Stef assured her. "I wanted to talk to you about what the doctor said." Stef continued carefully but stopped when she began to look around the room frantically.

"Jude?! Jude! Where's my brother?" She all but yelled as her breathing began to hitch and her voice cracked.

"Sweetie it's ok. He is getting some breakfast. He will be right back. I promise." Stef tried to assure the child, but she was still frantically trying to breathe. "I… I should… shouldn't have… have… have slept." She forced out.

"Shhhhh, Callie" Stef said as she repositioned herself on the bed so s he was facing the teen. "You're ok. Take a deep breath for me. Come on." Stef encouraged as she watched the girl struggle to take a full breath. She was still focused on her brother, which made her lack focus on her breathing. "Callie. Look at me." Stef's voice became stern. She needed her to breathe. "You need to stop and breathe. Right now, Callie. Breathe." She continued and sighed slightly at the sight of the girl's shoulders beginning to rise up and down at a slower pace. "Good job, love." Stef said as she continued to encourage her to breathe.

Once her breathing had gotten back to a somewhat normal pace, Callie's head fell back into the pillow and Stef could see her eyes brimming with tears.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Stef asked with a mothering look.

Callie quickly wiped her eyes and turned away from Stef. "Whatever you did to Jude, I will do worse to you." She hissed at Stef.

Although she couldn't see her eyes, Stef knew that the girl was fighting back more tears. The words had hurt her, thinking that Stef would do anything to harm the little boy, but she understood why they were said. _Poor baby._ Stef thought to herself. _Alone and a mother at such a young age._ She shook her head along with the words spoken by the teen.

"Callie." She began again. Knowing full-well that the girl wasn't going to face her, but that she was still awake, so she would at least hear her. "I promise Jude will be back any minute." She waited for a moment for any sort of reaction. When she didn't, she sighed and continued. "Dr. Fendmen said you have a concussion and several bruises and cuts on your body."

At the sound of the word cuts, Callie's body tensed, which did not go unnoticed by Stef. The woman decided to let it go for the time being and continued explaining what the doctor said.

"He said you are well enough to be discharged and come back home with us. But…"

Before Stef could finish, Callie's head snapped up and she looked directly into the older woman's eyes. "I'm not leaving Jude." She said coldly.

Stef smiled. "I figured. That's why you are both coming home with us." She said, as there was a faint knock on the door. "Come in, buddy." She called out, knowing whom it was.

"Callie!" the boy exclaimed as he ran over to his sister and put the food down on the side of the bed. "You're awake!"

Callie hugged her brother as best as she could and looked him over for any sign of damage.

"I'm fine, Cal." He said with a chuckle. "I brought us breakfast." He said beaming before turning to Stef. "Thank you for the money, Stef. I bought you something too." He added, holding out a muffin and milk.

Stef's heart melted at the gesture. "Thank you, Jude." She replied as she took the food and drink.

"Jude! You can't just leave like that!" Callie scolded.

Jude's face turned sad as he responded. "I'm sorry, Callie. She was with us all night. I didn't think she would…" He began before his sister cut him off.

"You can't just trust anyone! You know that!" She said, sheer panic in her voice.

Stef closed her eyes, trying to block out any thoughts as to how that reasoning could have entered its way into their young minds.

"Ok, loves. We're gonna get Callie's discharge papers and then go home." Stef said, wanting the conversation to end. Callie bit her lip at the statement. She wanted what was best for Jude, and she had been safe for the short while she lived with the family earlier, but she was having a difficult time making the correct decision for her brother.

Before she could come up with an answer, Stef spoke up once more. "I'm gonna get the doctor, okay?"

Jude nodded as he continued to eat his own muffin, while Callie's only response was a blank stare.

* * *

Lena walked back into her room after her phone call with her wife to find the bed empty. She furrowed her brow and checked the bathroom for her daughter. When she found the bathroom empty, she made her way to her daughter's room and her forehead crinkled in confusion when she saw her daughter putting the finishing touched on her makeup.

"Ummm and where do you think you're going, Miss Thing?" She asked as she crossed her arms.

"I told you I'm feeling better. I can go to school." She said as she continued to get things ready, checking her phone more frequently than normal.

Lena sighed as she walked further into the girl's room and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders to still her. "I already have the day off, and you aren't going to school." She said while looking directly into her eyes. "So get back into some pjs and lie back down. I'm gonna get your brothers ready for school and I'll be back to check on you in a bit."

Mariana bit her lip and looked down at her phone once more. _What is going on?_ Lena wondered as she directed her child to her bed and took the backpack off of her shoulder. "Come on, love." She coaxed and nodded as she saw the girl begin to find other clothes to wear.

"Mmoooooomm!" Jesus' voice boomed from the kitchen.

Lena sighed and left the room, making sure to close the door partially behind her. She made her way down the stairs. Before she could step foot into the kitchen, she was met with an angry Jesus. "Mom! Brandon is literally being a jerk."

"Really, Jesus?" Brandon said while sitting down to eat a bowl of cereal.

"Whatever it is, I don't wanna hear it. Mariana is sick and I am staying home with her." She explained as she nudged her younger son towards the kitchen table.

"Where is mom? And Callie?" Brandon asked in between bites.

Lena sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Uhh they are coming back in a bit. Please no more questions. Just finish eating and get ready for school. You're walking today."

"But mom!" Jesus started, but quickly shut his mouth when he saw the look from his mother.

"That's fine. We'll be done soon." Brandon replied as he quickly finished his food.

"Thank you." Lena responded and kissed the top of his head.

* * *

"Ok. Well we should be able to leave in about a half hour." Stef informed Lena. She had already discussed the signs to look out for indicating Callie needed to go back to the ER and Dr. Fendmen already gave a pamphlet about concussions to her.

"Alright. That's good. Mariana is mad at me because I made her stay home, so she's gonna be a bear to deal with, but hopefully she'll sleep some."

"My baby." Stef said with a sad tone. "I'll talk to her when I get home." She declared.

"Yeah. Think that would be good."

"Did you get ahold of Bill?" Stef wondered as she made her way through the halls back to Callie's room.

"Err well kinda. He is out of the state for a week and couldn't talk much. Basically he said that Jude would be able to stay with us due to the fact that his foster father had been arrested, but only until he gets back."

"What?" Stef stopped in her tracks.

"No, honey I mean then Bill will talk with the kids himself along with the state to determine what will happen next. To both kids, not just Jude." She explained.

Stef let out a breath. She had forgotten that they were only fostering Callie for a short period of time. "Ok, love. I'm gonna get them ready and head over there shortly. I'll see ya there. Love you."

"Love you, babe."

Stef paused at the door with her hand on the handle. She didn't know how the day would unfold, but she was sure it was going to be long and exhausting, not to mention none of the family got much sleep.

She pushed open the door and found both Callie and Jude up and ready to go. The nurses had come in to unhook Callie from the machines and she had since then changed back into her clothes, gathered up the food, and gotten Jude's backpack ready to go.

Stef was in awe at the sight. They were both standing quietly and still, not saying a word when she came in. She hated to think that they were forced to act like this in a different home. "Ok, loves. Looks like you guys are ahead of the game. Let me just grab my stuff."

Once Stef had everything she came with, she began to walk out the door, looking over her shoulder to see that neither child had followed her. She walked back over to the siblings and bent down to their level. "You two are safe. Alright?" She said while looking back and forth at both of them. "We're gonna take my car back to my house and you guys can take a shower and relax. Sleep if you want or watch a movie it doesn't matter. But you are safe with me." Stef tried to emphasize that last point.

She received no response from Callie, and when Jude opened his mouth to respond, Stef saw Callie squeeze his hand. He immediately shut his mouth and the two remained silent.

Sighing, Stef stood back up and began towards the door once more. "Come on, loves." She said and smiled when the kids made their way towards her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! Hope this longer chapter makes up for the delay in updates. I've been having some writers block and am not sure where I want to take this story. If you have any ideas, please feel free to PM me or leave it in a review. **

**Thanks for reading! =]**

* * *

"Jesus! You're gonna make your brother late!" Lena yelled up at her younger son. She had been trying to shovel her boys out the door for 10 minutes and so far, Brandon was the only one responding.

The older boy sighed and looked up at his mother, "Can't I just go? I'm not gonna have time to practice before classes." He said looking at the door.

Remembering the conversation she had with her son the night before, Lena took the few extra minutes to see if there was any change in his thinking. "So you excited about tonight?"

"Yeah." He answered quickly as he got up from the chair he had been waiting in and began to pace in front of the door.

Lena looked at him with deep concern. "Brandon. You know this isn't something you have to do." She started. As she reached her arm out to steady his pacing, the sound of Jesus' heavy footsteps caused Brandon to move towards the door and let himself out.

"Dude I'm starting to walk." He announced and shut the door behind him.

Lena sighed in sadness as her son ran towards the door to follow his older brother. "Hey. Slow it down." She scolded before smiling slightly at his sheepish grin.

"Sorry." He quickly replied before throwing open the door and closing it behind him.

Lena pinched the bridge of her nose as a headache formed. She knew it would be a long day and starting off with a headache wasn't an option for the mother. She walked up the stairs and started heading towards her bathroom to find some Advil when she heard soft sobbing.

Immediately turning towards her daughter's room, she was able to peek in through the portion of the door that hadn't fully closed yet. She placed her hand over her heart in sadness as she witnessed her youngest curled up in a ball on her bed, sobs escaping her mouth every so often, and body shaking from crying.

Lena debated confronting her daughter, but decided to give her a little more time to herself. Hopefully she would fall asleep and be more rested when they talked later in the day. Lena lingered a moment longer before turning around and following her original task of finding Advil. She also wanted to take some time to gather her thoughts before her wife came back with the now two foster children.

* * *

Stef pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. She waited in silence to see if either child wanted to speak up before they got into the house. After what seemed like years, Stef finally turned around to see both children still sitting in their seats. Seatbelts on. Faces filled with fear. Stef sighed and took a deep breath. "Ok, loves. Ready to go inside?"

She was responded by silence, which was predicted, so she unbuckled her own seatbelt in hopes that the two children would follow in her suit.

She saw Callie immediately take off her seat belt, but she put her body in front of Jude and held onto his arm, not allowing him to reach the button to unlock his own belt. Stef watched as Callie scanned her surroundings before moving away from her brother and allowing him to become free of his buckle. The siblings slowly made their way out of the car, Callie keeping a hand on her brother at all times. Stef's heart broke at the thoughts of what the Jacob siblings had been through that made them think they had to be this cautious.

"Alright. Well grab your stuff and follow me." Stef began as she grabbed her own purse and slung it over her shoulder. "My two older sons should be at school by now, but my wife and daughter are still here." She explained as she reached the front door. She stopped after inserting her key into the lock and turned to look at the children who had followed behind her. "This is a safe house. Please trust me. I promise you are safe here."

Jude started a small smile before letting his lips fall into a frown once more, as if he thought he wasn't allowed to smile. Callie stood still in her spot, letting no emotion leave her figure.

Sighing once more, Stef turned back towards the house and opened the door. She stepped inside and held the door open for the children. Once again, Callie had a hand on her brother's arm and walked into the house cautiously.

"Here. Why don't you two relax in the living room for a while? I'm gonna let Lena and Mariana know we are back." Stef said as she led them into the room that Callie used as a bedroom the previous night. "I'm just gonna be upstairs. Bathroom is right next to the kitchen and if you're hungry or thirsty, feel free to grab something from the fridge or pantry." Stef added with a smile, even though she knew full-well that they wouldn't do anything more than sit on the couch.

Stef waited until she saw both kids nod in understanding before turning to head upstairs. She looked over her shoulder at the top step to see Callie sitting on the couch and Jude curled up into her side. She smiled gently and turned the corner to make it fully to the second floor.

"Stef!" Lena exclaimed as she almost ran into her wife at the top of the stairs.

"Oh gosh, Lena!" Stef's hand flew to her chest. "You scared me, love." She responded before pulling her wife into her arms. "I'm so sorry baby. How are things here? How are you? How is my baby?" Stef asked quickly.

"Woah, honey! Relax. Take a breath." Lena said, worry evident in her voice.

"I'm sorry, love. It's been a crazy night." Stef said as she inhaled and exhaled in a calming manner.

Lena nodded in understanding and proceeded to explain what had gone on in the house while her wife was absent. "Both boys left for school about 10 minutes ago. Jesus has volleyball after school and Brandon wanted to stay later to practice, so I'll pick them up around 5 before Brandon's audition."

"Crap!" Stef said, not realizing that she had interrupted Lena. "I almost forgot that was tonight!" The woman's hands flew to her head as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"Hey." Lena said as she reached out and stilled the moving hands. "It's gonna be fine. We're gonna take things one step at a time here. We aren't even gonna worry about the audition until later today. Got it?" She asked with her no-argument mom look.

Stef chuckled slightly before responding. "Alright mama tiger."

Lena nodded her head in pride before continuing her original thought. "Mariana, on the other hand, is in her room crying. Or at least that is what she was doing when I last saw her about 10 minutes ago." Lena said looking in the direction of her daughter's room.

Stef looked at her wife with slight concern. "And what happened again?" She asked, wanting to know what on earth was bothering their daughter so much that she had gotten sick and was crying about it.

"She hasn't told me anything. I was hoping she would get some sleep and we could talk to her later. Maybe she will be feeling better in a bit."

Stef nodded. "Yeah. Ok and uhh Callie and Jude are downstairs. They need to eat and take a shower at some point today, but when I left them, they were huddled on the couch." Stef explained.

Lena placed her hand over her heart. "Those poor kids. How is Callie?" She asked.

"Concussion is the worst. But there are some other things I wanted to talk to you about." Stef said, her voice lowering slightly as if she needed to tell a secret.

"Can it wait until tonight?" Lena asked. "I just wanna go check on them and see if they need anything. Why don't you get some sleep or at least take a shower?" She suggested.

"Are you implying that I am smelly and look tired?!" Stef gasped dramatically.

"Yes." Lena answered with a sly smile.

Stef smiled back. She didn't know how she got so lucky. How this beautiful woman in front of her was her wife. Stef grabbed her wife by the waist and pulled her in close. "I love you." She said as their foreheads touched; lips hovering over one another's.

"I love you too." Lena responded before their lips met and they shared a very much-needed kiss.

After a few more kisses, Lena pulled back. She wanted to be with her wife more than anything at the moment, but she knew they had to get stuff taken care of. "Ok. Shower. Get." She scolded playfully.

Stef puffed her lip out in protest but smiled once more when Lena leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Go!" She said with a chuckle.

Stef smiled sweetly and disappeared into her bedroom, leaving Lena alone in the hallway. The woman took a deep breath and began to make her way down the stairs. She had no idea what she would find, but she knew she needed to be prepared for anything.

* * *

Lena entered the first floor and spotted the children immediately. Callie had pushed herself into one side of the couch and Jude was lying as close to her as possible. They both looked like they were asleep, so Lena decided to head into the kitchen and wait for Stef to get done with her shower before she did anything else.

She turned the coffee pot on and sat on one of the stools as she waited for the water to heat up. Her fingers began to strum on the table as her mind wandered in 100 different ways. She really needed to have some time with her wife to discuss everything that was going on. Lena hated to make large decisions without her wife, and knew Stef felt the same way.

A small beep indicated that her coffee was ready to be poured, so Lena stood up, grabbed two mugs, and poured a cup of coffee for herself and her wife, who she knew would be down in a matter of minutes. Stef was usually fast in the shower, but when there was something important happening, she was twice as fast. She had promised Lena time and time again that she was as clean as Lena gets after Lena's 20-minute showers. Stef just didn't care for long showers.

Lena turned around and placed both cups on the table. She added milk and sugar to both hers and her wife's cups and began to stir both with spoons. Her mind began to wander once more. This time, her thoughts couldn't get past the two sleeping children in the next room.

Despite the look, Callie was not sleeping. She had taught herself how to fake sleeping over the years in order to keep tabs on where her foster parents were and to try and hear things they would only say when they thought she was asleep.

Once Stef had left them on the couch to go talk to Lena, Callie pulled her brother towards her and began to whisper to him. "Ok bud. I want you to get some sleep. I know you didn't get much last night."

Jude sighed and nodded. He knew Callie wouldn't stop worrying until he slept, and quite frankly, he was exhausted. So, he curled up into his sister's side and rested his head on her lap. "I love you, Callie" The young boy said before closing his eyes.

"I love you too, baby." Callie said, stroking his hair like a mother would to her child. But it was nothing new to Callie. She had been Jude's mother figure for almost 9 years now and everything she did for herself came after all of Jude's needs were met. She fed him first, she let him sleep while she stayed awake and watched, she tried to give him everything in life, even with the terrible foster homes they had been placed in. It was Callie's number one priority in life to make sure Jude was safe. Nothing else mattered. And she was ok with that.

Callie's fingers slowed in pace through her brother's hair until they finally stopped. She could feel the breathing boy inhaling and exhaling and she was able to relax a little more. She had only been with this family for a day and she had no idea how the members of this clan were going to be towards her and her brother. So, seeing him have the ability to relax, even for a moment, made Callie smile. It made Callie happy that Jude felt comfortable, but that didn't mean she did. Callie's eyes were like a hawk; darting every which way, ready to take action if anyone entered the room.

* * *

"Uhhhh" Mariana groaned as she felt her phone vibrate under her pillow once more. It had been going off non stop since she had gotten back into bed and she knew each would be the same. _'Where are you?' 'Someone told about the pills' 'Principal Sanchez knows!' _

Mariana angerly grabbed the phone out from under her pillow and looked at who the text was from. _'Mari! I dono how my mom found out about the pills but she's pissed. She doesn't know it's you but she knows I got them at school. I'm sorry.'_ Mariana felt tears prick her eyes for the umpteenth time that night. She was about to turn her phone off as to avoid the continuous texts that could possibly send her to jail when Kelsey's picture flashed on her screen. She knew if she didn't answer now Kelsey would continue calling until she got ahold of her, so she answered the call.

"What? What else could you possibly tell me that would make this day any worse than…" She began when the again paniced voice flooded Mariana's ear.

"Mariana! My mom just got off the phone with principal Sanchez! I dono if your mom knows yet but my mom said they are dealing it with at the very beginning of classes. Where are you?!"

"My mom and I are home. I got sick last night." Mariana explained numbly.

"Nice. You're the one selling the pills and you pretend to be sick? Awesome, Mariana." She said, her voice dripping with disgust.

"I didn't want to stay home! I wanted to try and get things figured out at school but I threw up last night and this morning and my mom found out. She made me stay home." Mariana practically yelled into the phone. She stood up and swung her legs out from under the covers. "Don't you know that I know how bad this is? Kels I could go to jail! Not only is my mom gonna kill me as my mom, but she is also gonna kill me as the vice principal. I don't know how I'm gonna be able to handle this!"

"Uhhh Mari. I gotta go. Shit. Sanchez is calling me. Seriously. You need to do something. Figure something out and text me." Kelsey said quickly as she ended the call.

Mariana couldn't believe what was happening. Her head began to spin as panic set in. Her mom would be getting a call from Principal Sanchez shortly and she knew her mom would ask her about it. While pacing her room, she knocked into her desk, causing the edge to nick her leg. "Owww!" She yelled, much louder than necessary. She glared at the contents on her desk and her breathing became hitched. Her kind eyes turned to furry as she reached over and flung everything off of her deck and onto the floor. It wasn't that she was mad, more that she was frustrated and upset with herself. _I hate this. I'm so stupid._ The girl began thinking to herself. However, with her phone still vibrating non-stop from all of the texts, her thought turned into verbal sentences. "You're so stupid. Why the hell would you do this?" She began pacing the room, occasionally throwing her hands up, and other times rubbing her temples.

She was getting frustrated with the texts, but what made her freeze was the image of the blackmail picture she was sent the night before. To make matters worse, it was from an unknown sender, which meant that someone else had this picture. Someone who knew about her and what she did. Her mumbling got louder as the blackmail picture clouded her head.

The girl was so wrapped up in her thoughts, that she didn't hear the knock on the door or her mother silently standing at the now open door. Stef had gotten done with her shower quicker than normal, and as she headed downstairs to meet her wife and foster children, she heard muffled noises followed by a crash and arguing.

"Mariana" Stef said calmly, as to not scare her. But, as she thought might happen, the girl didn't hear her, so she tried for a different approach.

"Mariana" Stef began at a louder tone. "I am coming in. Love, look at me. What's wrong?" She tried to be as gentle as possible without revealing the worry that was inside her. She slowly walked into the room and tried to figure out how to get her daughter's attention without startling her.

"Mariana!" Stef tried once more at a louder tone, which seemed to be the trick, because the girl suddenly spun around and faced her mother. She quickly dropped to the ground to pick up the phone she had thrown and clutched it in her hand. The girl who could usually talk your ear off couldn't form any sentences as her mom stared at her.

"Baby? What's wrong?" Stef asked, eying the phone her daughter was holding onto so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

As she finally snapped herself out of the thoughts in her head, she plastered a smile on her face and responded with "Oh! Nothing. Sorry when did you get back? Do you not have work today?" She turned her back to her mom as she tucked the phone into her sock drawer, and then quickly picked up everything she had thrown on the ground, which didn't go unnoticed by her mother.

The older woman raised her eyebrows at her youngest and grabbed ahold of her wrist and gently leading her to the bed. She turned to face the girl and waited for her to look up as well. When her eyes finally met the little brown ones, she began. "Sweetie. I'm not stupid. I know something is wrong."

Once more, the girl tried her mask and proceeded to answer, in an almost too cheerful tone, "Nothing, mom. I promise. I think I just need to get some more sleep. I'll take a nap." She tried to brush it off while trying to pull the covers down.

"Mariana." Her mother stated as she halted her daughter's movements and kept constant eye contact on her.

Unable to think of another excuse at the moment, Mariana's gaze left her mother, but as quickly as it was gone, Stef pulled it gently back, this time leaving her hand cupped under her chin. "Mari, baby you know you can tell me or mama anything, right?"

Mariana looked up as her brain found one more possible way to solve this. "I know, mom. Gosh! Why are you always trying to invade in my space? I am in high school, not elementary school. I can figure out some things on my own. Can't I just have a bad day? Am I allowed to have just one bad day? I'm sorry I'm not your perfect child. I'm not even your actual child to begin with! I don't know why you waste all your damn time with me! Just leave me alone!" As soon as she uttered the last of her speech, Mariana's mouth snapped shut and she turned her head away from her mother. Never had she ever wanted to be so disrespectful to one of her parents, but she couldn't think of a better solution at the time. She didn't dare turn around because she didn't think she could handle looking at her mom after those words.

Stef's mouth froze in a slightly open stance. She had no idea where this sudden outburst was coming from, but the part that worried her the most was the end of her rant. "Baby." Stef started cautiously. She knew she had to go at this in certain way if she wanted her daughter to be any sort of cooperative, but it was a thin line she was walking on. "Can you look at me?" She asked.

Mariana closed her eyes and continued to stare off in the direction opposite of her mother. She knew if her eyes met her mothers she would break down in tears. And if she broke down, her mother knew she would be able to get Mariana to spill. She couldn't deal with Stef finding out first. At least with Lena she knew the reaction would be a little easier to handle. She had no idea how angry Stef would be and didn't want to be the only one in the room when she found out.

"I'm taking a shower." The child declared and made a beeline towards the door.

"Sweetheart." Stef started as she reached her hand out to try and stop her daughter.

"Can I please, please just take a shower? Please? I feel disgusting. I didn't get to shower after I got sick." Mariana said, hoping that reminding her mother that she had gotten sick would allow her to leave.

Stef sighed. She knew she would get no where with her daughter when she was in this state of mind so she let her hand drop and nodded her head. "We're talking after." She stated firmly as she heard the bathroom door open and then slam shut.

Stef shook her head and slowly stood up from her daughter's bed. She was at a loss for words. Stef racked her head trying to think of what could be making her daughter so upset, but nothing came to mind. Hoping to have some time to discuss the incident with Lena before Mariana got out of the shower, Stef made her way downstairs. She saw the two children in the same exact spot she left them in and sighed. She wanted them to open up to her so she could help them.

"I know it's hard." Lena said as she walked up next to Stef, putting her arms around the blonde's waist. "Come on. I made coffee for us." She added as she began to pull the woman away from the view of the sleeping children.

Lena led Stef towards the kitchen nook and sat her down. She quickly grabbed both cups of coffee and sat down next to Stef. "Talk." She stated, giving her wife a loving yet firm look.

"Thought you wanted me to drink my coffee" She responded with a smirk.

Lena stuck out her tongue along with a slight giggle, but waited for her wife to take a few sips.

"So who would you like to discuss first?" Lena asked. Stef knew they had three children they needed to talk about, and quite honestly, she didn't know which one she wanted to dig into first.

"Ummmm." She said letting a loud breath of air out of her mouth. "Welp." She started with an exhausted breath. "Mariana told me she was sorry she wasn't the perfect child and she doesn't know why we even try with her before running off to take a shower." She explained even as Lena's jaw dropped. "So that was fun." She concluded in sarcasm.

"Excuse me what?" Lena asked, leaning in towards Stef as if it would help her hear.

Stef nodded her head as she pursed her lips together. "I don't know what happened. I was about to come down after my shower and I heard something crash. She had thrown some things off of her desk and was yelling at herself. Lena there is something big bothering her and we need to get it out of her." She said with a worried tone. She hated when one of her babies was hurting and she could do nothing to help.

"I agree, honey but it is gonna take more than just sitting her down and demanding an answer." Lena said sadly.

"I know. I just have never seen her like this." Stef said shaking her head. Suddenly, she snapped her head back up. "Do you think it has anything to do with Callie being here?" She asked.

"You mean is she like jealous?" Lena asked. "I never thought that would be an issue." She answered.

"Me either but I can't think of anything else it could be."

"Why don't we see if she will talk a little more after her shower and a nap? For all we know, it could have something to do with a boy. You know how crazy teenage girls can get about that sort of thing." Lena said, trying to calm her wife down.

The blonde woman nodded, looking at Lena in pure awe. "How come you are so good at keeping calm?" She asked as she picked up the woman's hand and kissed the knuckles.

Lena blushed slightly "It's my job. I am stuck with teens 24/7." She smiled and kissed Stef on the lips.

"Mmm. Speaking of teens, how are our guests?" Stef asked as she got up from the breakfast nook, grabbing both now empty coffee mugs. She placed them in the sink and grabbed a towel to wipe her hands as she waited for Lena to respond.

"To be honest, I haven't even been in there yet. When I came down it looked like they were sleeping, so I left them."

Stef nodded. "Not surprised they are sleeping. They both had a rough night." Stef explained.

"What happened?" Lena asked the question that had been burning in her mind since Stef had left only hours ago to follow Callie.

Stef sighed and looked back towards the kitchen nook. They both knew this was going to require a lot of time and patience from both of them, and they needed to stay on the same page. Stef knew she had to tell Lena everything she was informed, and Lena knew Stef had a lot to say. They sat close to one another, Stef held one o Lena's soft hands in her own as she prepared to tell her wife all of the terrible things she had seen.

Before Stef could get a word out, both moms heard a small whimpering sound. They craned their necks to see if they could find the culprit of the noise, but there was no one in the kitchen.

"Mari?" Lena asked into the room, hoping if it were her, she would answer. When they got no response and the whimpering grew louder, both women were on their feet. They knew if it wasn't Mariana, then it had to be one of the Jacob siblings.

Stef found her way into the living room first, followed closely by Lena. As they made their way closer to the couch, they could see Callie's brown curly hair swishing from one side to the other. She was murmuring in her sleep and her arms had begun to move as well.

"Jude" Stef whispered to the boy whose eyes she caught peeking open from his spot on the couch. Reluctantly, the boy opened his eyes and looked over to Stef. She smiled at him and continued to talk. "Hey buddy. Wanna come over here so we can get Callie situated a little better?" She asked as she reached out a hand to the small boy.

He looked down at his sister with a tentative look before nodding slightly and grasping the still waiting hand.

"Good job, love." Stef praised as he made his way over. She bent down to reach his level and looked directly at him. "This is my wife Lena." She introduced as she gestured to the tall woman behind her. "She is 100% safe just like me, ok?" She asked and waited for him to nod. "Good. So why don't you go sit with her in the kitchen. Maybe get something to eat or drink. I know you didn't get to finish all of your breakfast this morning." Stef said as she stood back up and looked at Lena.

"Come on, love. Come help me pick out what to make for breakfast." She said with a smile and extended her hand just like Stef had done previously.

This time, the boy looked from Callie to Stef a few times before turning towards Lena. He took a deep breath and grabbed ahold of the mother's hand- partly because he was afraid of how Callie's dreams were going to make her act, and partly because he really was extremely hungry. And for some reason, Lena felt safe.

Lena smiled and gently squeezed the boy's hand as she made her way to the kitchen. "We'll be right in the kitchen, love," She said over her shoulder as the two disappeared into the next room.

Stef smiled at the way Jude had taken to Lena. She always had that positive attachment with children and Stef adored that about her. The cries escaping from the girl still lying on the couch pulled Stef out of her thoughts. She quickly made her way to the girl but stopped for a moment to decide what she was going to do. Like Mariana, she knew she would be walking on a thin line when talking to Callie, and she didn't want to frighten the girl any more than she already was. She took a deep breath and knelt down next to the whimpering teen.

"Callie? Sweetie. You're ok. You're safe, love." Stef began, but her words seemed to do nothing as the girl's cries became louder and quicker. "Callie baby. Come on, sweetheart wake up for me." Stef tried, using the same tricks that worked on Mariana over the past years when she was trying to calm her out of nightmares. However, Stef momentarily forgotten that Callie wasn't her daughter and she started to run her fingers through the girl's dark hair.

This action always calmed Mariana down, but when Callie felt someone touch her head, her hand sprung out and made contact with the closest thing to her; Stef's hand. "Ahh!" Stef yelped as Callie's nails dug into the side of her arm and slid down, causing little cuts to form.

Callie sprang up after making contact with whatever was in front of her. She blindly dug her nails into the flesh and used all of her strength to hurt whoever she thought was there to hurt her. However, after a few moments of clearing, she noticed that she was holding Stef's arm and that her fingernails were still latched onto the side. She quickly pulled her arm back and looked down at her lap.

Stef's reactions were somewhat delayed as she was taken back from the defense shown by the girl, but she immediately assured the girl she was alright after she snatched her hand back.

Callie looked up slowly and saw the woman studying her arm. Blood. Small trails of blood were beginning to form and Callie knew she was the one who had made it. Without another thought, Callie sprang up from the couch and sprinted towards the door. She had a good feeling that these two women wouldn't hurt Jude, but she had just hurt one of them, she knew she was going to be punished severely. So running felt like the best option at the time.

Before Stef could register what had happened, Callie was already throwing the front door open. "Callie!" She yelled as she too jumped up and began to chase after the girl.

Callie was faster than Stef had imagined, and it took a burst of energy on Stef's part to catch up to the girl who had a head start on her. She practically tackled the girl to the ground and had to wrap her arms and legs around the girl to keep her from fleeing once more.

"Please! Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it! Please!" She began to yell. Her voice was filled with nothing but fear and Stef's heart broke.

"Sweetie, I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise. I just need you to calm down for me." Stef explained as she continued to restrain the teen with her limbs.

Callie didn't believe she wasn't in trouble from drawing blood from her foster mother's arm, so she continued to thrash in the strong arms of the police officer, hoping that if she could wear her out even a little, she would be able to escape.

"Callie." Stef said in a stern voice. "Baby relax. Come on, sweetie. Deep breaths." Stef coached.

"Lemmie go!" Callie panted, she hadn't realized how tired and dizzy she was until she tried to push herself up off of the woman. She stopped moving for a moment to try and steady her head, but everything kept spinning. The fact that she hadn't eaten much didn't help the situation.

Stef used the opportunity of halted movements from the girl to reposition herself so Callie was positioned in between her legs, Callie's back to her front. She squeezed the girl's legs between her own and kept a good hold on the girl's shoulders.

With one last burst of energy, Callie tried to move away from the grasp of Stef, but exhaustion began to take over, so she slumped back into the woman's chest. Her attempt to hold back tears was getting more and more difficult as she felt the woman wrap her arms fully around her and begin to rock the both of them.

Callie felt tears fall from her eyes as she buried her head into the older woman's shirt. If she was gonna cry, she would let no one see it.

Stef sighed in relief at the halting of Callie trying to run, but her heart broke once more as she felt the girl's hot tears land on her shirt. "Shhhh" She quietly soothed. "Shhh baby girl you're ok. It's ok, baby."


	10. Chapter 10

**Howdy readers! Hoping this story will pick up pace, but I've been struggling with ideas. This one tok a lot to write and I really don't know where to go from here. I don't want to do the same thing as other stories. **

**So please if you have any sort of idea, please PM me or post a review. The sooner I get ideas, the sooner I can update. **

**Thanks to those of you who are still ****reading! =]**

* * *

At the sound of Stef's yelp, Lena's head sprung up and she looked towards the living room. She didn't think that Callie would hurt Stef, but she had no idea what had caused her wife to scream. Lena eyed Jude whose eyes were wide open in fear. She decided that Stef would be able to hold her own with the girl, and made her way over to the small boy who had found his way to the breakfast nook.

"Hey buddy." She said with a smile. "Did you think of something you wanted to eat?" She asked, trying to take his mind off of his sister in the next room.

He shook his head and lowered his head. Lena squatted down next to him and waited for the boy to lift his head up to meet her eyes. "I promise both you and your sister are safe here. I know it's been a hard night, but you really need to eat something. Can you do that for me?"

Jude cocked his head in confusion. He had never had a foster family genuinely care about him getting something to eat and feeling safe. He had a hard time believing the woman who was in front of him. _She could be lying._ He thought to himself. _They always lie._ He concluded, remembering all of the lies he had been told in previous homes.

"Jude?" Lena asked again, her voice pleading.

Although he didn't know if she was lying or not, Jude knew he would probably get into more trouble is he didn't listen, so he nodded his head slightly.

"Good!" She said with a smile before standing back up straight. "Ok would you like to look at what we have? Or did you have something in mind?" She asked as she walked back over to the island counter.

"It doesn't matter. Whatever you want." Jude said timidly. He wanted to give this new person no room to get mad at him.

Lena looked at the boy, her eyes filled with sadness. _At least he said he will eat._ She thought as she nodded her head. "Alright. How about eggs, bacon and toast?" She asked, hoping it was something the boy liked. She had a feeling he wouldn't tell her anyway if he didn't like it.

Jude's face perked up ever so slightly and he nodded. Lena caught the genuine excitement, even if it was only present for a moment and nodded. "Alright. Sounds good to me! Wanna help?" She asked.

Before Jude could answer, they heard Stef call out Callie's name and the door open. Before she could stop him, Jude had leapt up from his seat and ran towards the yelling. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the front door wide open and the back of his sister as she began to run from the house.

As soon as his brain registered that Callie was running, Stef passed through the front door as well and began to take off after his sister.

"Callie!" The boy began before taking off towards the door as well. He didn't get far, however, because by that time, Lena had made her way towards the front door and had grabbed ahold of him.

"Hey sweetie it's ok. Stef is just going to follow Callie so she doesn't get hurt." Lena tried to assure the boy, but he continued to try and wiggle out from her grasp. "Jude, sweetie. Come on, love." She said as she positioned herself to where she was between the boy and the open door. She used one of her legs to catch the open door and close it.

"Ok Jude. Can you look at me?" She asked as she placed both hands on the boy's shoulders.

The young child lifted his eyes up to meet the woman's and Lena could see tears forming.

"Sweetie." She began, using her thumbs to catch the few tears that had spilled over. "Callie is ok. Stef will not hurt her. You have to believe me." Lena was desperate for the boy to understand what she was saying was true. She knew he was scared, and she needed to distract his thoughts. "Maybe you could help me with breakfast so when Stef and Callie come back, they can get something to eat right away?" She asked. Hoping that the fact she implied that Callie would be coming back would ease the boy.

Jude thought about her question and slowly nodded. He knew Stef was safe; she had saved both of them from his old foster home. It was just the unknown that scared him. The unknown if he would be sleeping on that couch tonight or if he would be going through the garbage for leftover food when a foster family didn't remember to feed them.

Jude felt Lena's thumbs against his cheeks again and realized he had started crying again. The boy shook his head, wiped away his tears and looked back up at the woman. "Ok." He simply stated.

That was enough for Lena. She smiled brightly down at him and extended her hand. Just like last time, the boy took it and gave her a small smile. She gently squeezed his hand and the two of the walked back into the kitchen. Lena was praying that Stef had in fact caught up to Callie and that they would be back soon. She knew she could only keep Jude distracted for so long.

* * *

"Callie?" Stef said gently for the second time. The girl's tears seemed endless as Stef's shirt became soaked with the girl's frustrations. "Callie, sweetie." Stef said once more, gathering the girl's hair and pulling it off of her sticky shoulders. "Callie can you look at me? Please?"

The girl went rigid for a moment before quickly sitting straight up and wiping at her eyes feverously. She looked at the ground while Stef talked to her.

"Callie. You're ok. You're safe here. This" She said gesturing at her arm with small dried blood scrapes, "was an accident."

Momentarily forgetting what she had done, Callie looked fearfully at the injured arm and her face paled. "No, no please." She said trying to push away from the woman's grasp.

"Callie!" Stef tried once more. "Baby it was an accident. I'm not mad." Stef tried to assure the girl, who was still trying to back herself away from Stef, which still on the ground.

"I'm sorry. Please, please I won't do it again." Callie pleaded, her mind obviously shut off to what Stef was saying.

Stef sighed. She was really at a loss as to what to try next to calm the girl. "Sweets." She said forcefully, grasping the teen's hands firmly. "Look at me." She said, her voice stern. Finally, Callie looked up once more, her brown eyes filled with tears. "You are not in trouble. Do you understand?"

Callie barely nodded before Stef shook her head "No, Callie. I want to hear you say it."

"I understand." She mumbled quietly.

"What do you understand?" Stef asked, her eyes never once leaving the brown ones.

"That I'm not in trouble." Callie finally said before dropping her head down once more.

"Good job, love." Stef praised. She gently squeezed the teen's hands. "Ok. How about something to eat and a shower?" She suggested, hoping that Callie would at least go into the house with her.

Callie shrugged and kept her eyes glued to the floor.

Stef sighed and bent down to get closer to the teen's eyes. "Will you come back in the house with me?"

A slight nod of the head prompted a smile to form on Stef's lips. "Good. Because it's kinda hot out here." She said, trying to lighten the mood. "A nice shower and some food sounds so good right now."

Callie didn't respond, but followed her foster mother back into the house. She was too embarrassed to look up or respond. _I just cried to this random woman. I let her comfort me. What the hell?_ She thought to herself as her brain spun. _Damn it._ She shook her head. She knew she couldn't get close to this family. She knew that the second she allowed them in, everything would be pulled out from underneath her. Callie felt her hands start to shake as she followed Stef back into the house.

"You ok, love?" Stef asked once they got into the house. She could feel the small hands shaking in her own.

Callie nodded and looked up, hoping to escape any more talks with the cop. "Can I take a shower?" She asked cautiously.

Stef smiled. "Sure, sweetheart. I'll show you where it is." She replied as Jude ran in.

"Callie!" He yelled as he wrapped his hands around her waist.

"I'm ok, baby. I promise. I'm just gonna shower." Callie said, forcing a smile to try and show her brother that she was truly fine.

"Would you like to eat something first?" Lena asked, entering the room after the boy.

Callie shook her head. "I'm not hungry. I just really wanna take a shower." She said quickly, looking towards the stairs.

"Ok. You can eat after!" Lena said with a smile. "Come on, Jude. Let's finish before Callie gets done showering." She put her arm gently around the young boy's shoulders and pulled him closer to her side.

Jude looked to Callie as if to ask permission. Callie nodded her head and Jude released his grip on her waist, allowing Lena to pull him fully towards her.

"Ok. Come on, sweets." Stef said as she turned towards the stairs.

"Stef." Lena said, giving her the look of 'we need to talk'.

"I'll come down after I get Callie situated." Stef responded with a slight nod.

"Ok. Oh and check on our diva. I heard the water turn off a while ago, but I haven't heard from her since."

"I forgot Miss Thing was home with us!" Stef replied as she started up the stairs, Callie immediately following.

"Hopefully she's sleeping, but if she isn't, let her know I'll be up there in a bit." Lena said before turning around with Jude and walking them both back into the kitchen.

"Alright, mama" Stef replied with a smile before she too turned and continued walking up the stairs.

Stef grabbed a towel from the hall closet and led the teen towards the kids' bathroom. She quickly ran towards the shower and grabbed both razors that were resting on the side of the tub. She didn't know what Callie had used to cut herself, or if it was even as serious as the doctor said, but she hadn't gotten a chance to approach the girl about it, so she decided to not take any chances.

"Here is the soap, shampoo, conditioner." Stef pointed out as she slipped the razors into her pockets. "Here's your towel. Let me know if you need anything." She finished with a smile.

Callie took the towel from Stef's hand, but remained still. "Thanks." She said quietly.

Stef resisted the urge to kiss the top of Callie's hair as she left the bathroom.

As soon as Stef made it fully out of the bathroom, Callie shut the door and locked it. She ran towards the shower, turned the water on, and let it fall. She let the towel drop from her hands and she fell to the ground, wrapping her arms around her legs, tears pouring down her cheeks. She struggled to continue breathing normally, but the thoughts in her head made her brain temporarily forget how to. Suddenly, Callie felt her chest tighten up and her hand flew to her chest. She tried taking several gasps of air, but it wouldn't make it to her lungs.

Stef sighed when Callie shut the door and immediately locked it. She knew that Callie was having a difficult time, but it broke her heart to see her so shattered. Stef took a moment to collect her thoughts before going to check on Mariana, but before she was able to leave, she heard soft sobs coming from the other side of the door. She leaned her head against the door and closed her eyes. She desperately wanted to help Callie, but she didn't know how to get her to understand that she was safe.

Stef debated knocking, but decided against it. She felt that Callie needed the time to herself, but when she began hearing gasping, Stef's attention turned fully to the door. "Callie?" When she heard no response, her heart rate picked up. "Callie? I need you to respond."

After another few moments of continued gasping, Stef began to pound on the door. "Callie!" Her voice was filled with fear as she thought the worst. "I'm coming in." She stated as she reached over into one of the drawers of the corner table, which was next to the bathroom. She grabbed the spare key and pushed it into the lock. Once she heard it click, she stopped once more to warn the girl. "Callie. I'm coming in. I need to make sure you're safe." At the silence, Stef took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Oh Callie baby." She said as she moved quickly to the girl who was crumpled into a ball on the floor of the bathroom. She dropped to her knees and reached her hands out momentarily before dropping them back down to her sides. "Callie, sweetie." She started, which caused the girl to push herself further away from Stef.

Her breaths became shorter and her whimpers grew louder as she struggled to continue to breathe. "Callie!" Stef said once more, knowing she needed to interviene quickly.

"Stef?" Lena's voice appeared behind her suddenly.

The blonde spun around and her eyes met her wife and Jude. "Hey, sweetie." She said, directing her words at the boy. "Callie's gonna be just fine! I'm gonna wait with her until she calms down a little, ok?" She said, trying to speak quickly as to focus her attention back to the girl.

"Come on, Jude." Lena said, putting her hands on the boy's shoulders and started leading him towards her room.

Turning her head back to the struggling girl, Stef was now able to focus on Callie, because she knew Lena would be able to handle Jude.

Stef scooted closer to Callie and took a deep breath. "Callie. Can you look at me?" She asked quietly. When the girl didn't respond once more, Stef reached over to the girl. "Callie, I'm gonna put my hand on your shoulder." She didn't want to take any chances of scaring the girl even more with her touch. Stef was surprised to see that Callie didn't flinch when she made contact with the girl's shoulder. "Callie. Can you let go of your legs? So you can breathe easier?"

Suddenly, Stef's eyes fell towards the girl's legs. Several streams of blood were making their way down her legs. "Callie!" Stef exclaimed as she moved her attention to the injuries. "What…" She began before she discovered the source of the blood, Callie had dug her fingernails so hard into her thighs that she had created gashes. It was as if she didn't even register what she was doing- as if it was something she had done before.

This time, Stef didn't hesitate, she reached over to the girl and pulled her hands away from her thighs. She quickly grabbed towels and put them on her cuts, but kept her main focus on the girl herself. "Shhh baby. You're ok." She cooed as she wrapped the girl into her arms, trying to sooth her. "Come on, sweetie. Breathe. You gotta breathe for me."

Callie was in a daze. As she began to hyperventilate, her head became fuzzy and she couldn't piece together what was happening around her. She knew someone was now in the room with her, but she couldn't tell who it was. _Pressure. Need to release. Wait._ She thought to herself as she dug her fingernails into her skin. _Yes. Wait. Yes. I need to breathe. Harder. Yeah this helps. _She realized as she dug her nails deeper into her thighs. _Wait why can't I breathe? Who is here? Jude? Where's Jude? I need more. Wait. Stop! Who took my hands away?_ She thought to herself becoming extremely frustrated and panicked. She tried to gulp as much air as possible, but her lungs wouldn't work. _Who is talking?_ Callie tried hard to focus on the voice, but her brain wouldn't stop spinning.

"Callie! Baby girl. Come on, love. Breathe for me. I need you to breathe, sweetie." Stef's tried to keep her tone calm, but she was worried about the girl passing out from lack of air. She took the girl's arms and gently pulled her off of the wall. Even as she resisted, Stef didn't let go. She repositioned herself so her back was now to the wall and she was once again between her legs, her back on Stef's chest. She crossed Callie's arms over her own chest and pulled the girl close to her. She used her legs to keep the teen's legs on the ground, so she couldn't curl herself up into a ball, hopefully allowing the air to enter her lungs.

"Come on. Follow my breathing, baby." Stef pleaded with the girl.

_Stef?_ Callie thought to herself _Yeah. That's Stef's voice. But what is she doing here? Why does she care?_ She thought. _Breathe, Callie. _She tried to tell herself as she felt her body being repositioned. _Wait no! Don't! No! _Her brain screamed as she tried to pull away from the grasp.

Stef sighed as Callie continued to struggle against her. "Lena!" She yelled. She knew Lena would be busy with Jude, but she was running out of options and needed to calm Callie down and get her to breathe.

In a matter of seconds, Lena appeared at the doorway, her hand over her heart as she took in the scene in front of her. Not surprisingly, Jude was right behind her. Stef gave Lena a look, then gazed briefly at the boy.

"Jude, sweetie. Callie is gonna be ok, just like I said before. Would you like to take a shower or watch a movie while we settle Callie down?" Stef asked. She knew the boy wouldn't want to be alone and away from his sister, but she knew that he needed to be out of sight while they dealt with his sister.

Jude didn't respond. He kept his line of vision on his sister, his eyes wide.

"Please, sweetie. I will come get you as soon as we get Callie situated in bed. I think she is extremely exhausted and needs some rest." Lena said quickly. "Go on into our room. The TV is on." She said, turning the boy around and gently pushing him towards their room. He hesitated slightly, but the look in Lena's eyes calmed him and he felt like he could trust her. Despite everything Callie had taught him about trusting people, something about Lena made him feel safe, like he used to feel with his mom.

Jude finally left the bathroom and Lena turned back to Stef and Callie. She let out a sad breath and knelt down. "Hi, sweetie." She said as she settled down next to the two. She might have said it towards Callie, but she also meant it to her wife, who she knew was frightened.

"I dono how to calm her down." Stef confessed, tears brimming at her eyes.

Lena nodded. She sat in front of both girls and took Callie's hands into her own. "Callie." She said in a soothing tone. "Callie, sweetie can you look at me?" When she didn't get a response, Lena gently lifted the girls chin up with her hand and tried to catch her gaze. "Callie?"

The girl began to shake. _What the hell is going on? Why? Why is my head spinning? Why can't I breathe. I just wanna breathe! Help!_ Callie's thoughts spilled out in the form of movements. Her head fell back against Stef's chest and her hand slipped out of Lena's loose grasp and flew to her chest.

Lena noted the sudden movements and knew Callie couldn't breathe. She looked at Stef with worry in her eyes. "Stef. I need you to get up and sit on the toilet. Hold her on your lap. I need to get her head between her knees to breathe." She instructed, mama tiger in full force.

Stef nodded and used her now free hands to push herself up as much as possible. Lena reached down and lifted the girl by her armpits in order for Stef to have the ability to relocate. Callie's light weight made it easy for the cop to lift the girl back onto her lap once she got situated on the toilet seat.

"Ok Callie?" Lena questioned as she again knelt in front of the girl. "I am going to but you head down to help you breathe. But I need you to start taking some breaths, ok? Can you do that for me?"

To both mother's surprise, Callie nodded slightly.

"Good girl!" Stef praised as she rubbed soothing circles on the girl's back.

Lena gently pushed the girl's head down to below her knees while Stef kelp hold of her by the waist.

Both mothers' hands never left the girl, and slowly, Callie's breathing evened out. Both women sighed in relief.

When Callie's breaths became more regular, Lena helped sit the teen up right again. Her body immediately slumped against Stef and right away, they could see that she was shaking. Stef wrapped her arms around the girl once more and began to rock her slightly.

"Can we get her to a bed?" Lena asked as she turned off the water that had been on since Callie had first gotten in the bathroom.

Stef nodded and cocked her head to the side, silently asking where they would bring her.

"I'll take Jude downstairs. Bring her into our room." Lena decided before walking out of the room.

"Ok Callie. Ok baby. You're ok. Shhh. You're ok. I've got you." Stef whispered into the girl's ear, her fingers running gently up and down the girl's arms.

Lena ran out of the bathroom, but immediately slowed down before she walked fully into her bedroom. She didn't want to frighten the boy any more than he was. As she walked in, she wasn't surprised to see him sitting on the very corner of the bed, eyes directed at the door in anticipation. As soon as he saw Lena, he sprung up and stood in front of her, his eyes searching for answers.

"Hey, sweetie. Callie's doing so much better. We're gonna have her relax a little in here, but I wanted to give her some alone time." She saw his eyes drop in sadness and her heart broke. She squatted down to try and reach his gaze and cupped his chin in her hand. "You know you can trust us here, right?" Even though the boy nodded, Lena felt like he wasn't as sure as he was letting on.

"Good. Because you and your sister are safe." She said with a smile.

He nodded once more and looked at her with question for instruction.

"Why don't we get you situated on the couch with a movie? Once we get Callie settled, I'll come join you. Ok?"

"Ok." Jude finally used his words and even showed a small smile. Once again, he couldn't put his finger on it, but Lena had a way of making him feel safe and loved. He felt like he could trust them to be with his sister and that she wouldn't be punished like the other foster parents would have done in this situation.

Lena smiled back and extended her hand. Jude took it and allowed her to lead him back downstairs.

"Oh. Hold on a moment." She said as she passed her daughter's room. She poked her head in and sighed when she saw the girl lying in bed, eyes staring up at the celling.

"Hey Miss Thing. Sorry did we wake you up?" She asked sympathetically.

Her head turned to face her mother and she shook her head. "No. I couldn't sleep anyway." She responded.

Lena walked into the room. She felt guilty for not having the chance to talk with her daughter about what was going on in her life. She knew it was something bigger than normal and she felt terrible for not getting to her sooner. "Hey baby." She said as she sat down on the bed and ran her fingers through the girl's hair.

"Hi." She said, her gaze leaving her mother's.

Lena let her hand rest on her daughter's forehead for a moment. "No fever." She said with a slight smile before continuing to run her fingers through the girl's hair.

"I feel better." She said plainly, clearly not convincing.

Lena made a mental note to have some alone time with her daughter and her wife, but for the time being, she decided to see if maybe a distraction would be ideal. "Callie's younger brother Jude is actually staying with us for a couple of days too, and I was gonna put in a movie for him downstairs. Maybe you could watch with him?" Lena suggested. "It would be good for him to not be alone." She added.

Mariana sat up slightly and looked around, hoping to spot the boy.

"Jude" Lena called out and the boy's face appeared at the door. "Hi, buddy!" She said with an excited tone. "Mari baby this is Jude. Jude this is my daughter Mariana. Would it be ok if she watched the movie with you?" She asked gently.

Jude smiled and nodded. The girl looked nice and he was happy to see that there were other kids close to his age in the house.

"Mariana wasn't feeling well, but I think a movie would be a good change of scenery than this room, hu Miss Thing?" She asked as she stood up and helped the girl out of her bed. Lena smiled as her daughter leaned into her and wrapped her arm around her mother's waist.

"Ready, Jude?" She asked as she turned towards the door and extended her hand once more. Before she could fully extend it, Jude moved into her other side and leaned his head into her side as well. Lena's heart swelled as she put an arm around each child's shoulder and began to walk. She leaned down and kissed her daughter's head and after a slight moment of hesitation, she kissed the top of the boy's head as well. She sighed in relief when he settled further into her. She hoped that Callie would soon get comfortable enough to allow this kind of love. Although she had only been in her life for a day, Lena felt something special with both Jacob kids and she wanted to do anything in her power to show them just how special they are.


	11. Chapter 11

OK. So I know this is not about getting the most reviews and likes etc. but to me, they help me gage if I am writing good stories and if they are stories that people want to read. I don't want to waste time writing something that no one will read. I know I do have a good amount of reviews, which is so awesome, but I wanted to be sure that people are actually reading these stories. It is probably a low self confidence thing but whatever. So if you would let me know if this story and the other one are stories you would like to see continued or if I should stop. Also, if you would like to see them continued, please help me with where to take them.

Sorry for the not actual update, but it is something I needed to take care of and address. I want to write things that other people want to read. Thats all.

Hope that wasn't rude in any way.

Thank you to those of you who have responded. And thank you to those who are reading.


	12. Chapter 12

**YAY! An actual update!**

**So sorry about the last 'update'. I was struggling to find the push to keep writing and I thought people didn't like my stories. Thank you to those of you who proved me wrong. **

**I hope you enjoy this and please, as always, review how you would like to see this story go. Thanks!**

* * *

Stef waited until she heard Lena's voice fade away down the stairs before beginning to talk to Callie.

"Sweetie." She began, trying to get the girl's attention. She needed to look at the girl's thighs to see how deep her fingernails cut, so she slowly lifted the towel that she had placed there when she first noticed the blood. She sighed in relief when she noted clots beginning to form and no new blood was escaping. Stef looked at the girl after replacing the towels and realized that she hadn't moved at all.

"Hey sweetie." She said softly, rubbing a hand up and down her arm to gain her attention. "Callie, love" Stef called again. Finally, the girl's eyes met Stef's and the older woman smiled. "There are those beautiful eyes!" She exclaimed. "How about we get you into bed so you can get some real sleep?" Stef asked.

Callie didn't respond. Her mind was racing about what had just happened. _Why am I on Stef's lap? Why does my chest hurt? Oh yeah. I couldn't breathe. _Her head began to spin as she remembered that she was still on the older woman's lap. _What am I doing?!_ Callie scolded herself as she tried to push off of Stef's hold.

"Ok, love. Hold on. Get up slowly, no need to rush." Stef instructed, unaware that Callie's only goal was to get away from the mother. "Woah, Callie. Hold on!" Stef exclaimed as the girl lunged forward in an attempt to free herself from Stef's arms. "Callie?" Stef asked as the girl stood by the door, holding onto the wooden frame and breathing deeply. "Callie, love I'm going to put my arm around your waist so I can help you into my room so you can sleep, ok?"

Callie's head was throbbing. _No! I don't want to sleep in your bed!_ She thought, but her mouth couldn't form the words. All she could manage was a pitiful sob. _Damn it!_ She cursed as Stef made her way next to Callie.

"Sweetie, I need you to trust me, ok?" She asked as she bent down slightly to look into the young girl's eyes.

Callie couldn't move. She couldn't make her body do what she wanted, and what she wanted to do was run. Run away from the false hope and the terrible foster life that she had known, but her feet remained on the ground. Suddenly, Callie felt an arm being wrapped around her waist and she stiffened at the contact.

"It's alright, sweets. It's just me. I'm just gonna keep you steady." She said with a calm demeanor.

And then, as if her body developed a mind of it's own, she began to move towards the master bedroom. Although her face was blank, her mind was spinning. _What is she gonna do to me?_ Callie thought to herself. She didn't really think either woman would do anything to hurt her, but 'nice' foster moms before had tricked her before. She knew she couldn't take any chances.

After a few moments, Callie realized that she was no longer moving. She focused her eyes on the woman who was waiting patiently next to her. She saw that the woman's lips were moving, but all she heard were muffled sounds. Stef's face became blurry in Callie's vision and the sounds became slurred together.

Stef could see Callie's focus dropping and immediately went to pick the girl up and gently lie her down on the bed that she hadn't quite made it all the way onto.

Callie felt Stef's arms wrap around her, but her head was so fuzzy that she couldn't do anything to stop her.

"Callie, sweets can you look at me?" Stef asked with a hint of worry in her voice. Mariana had passed out once before when she saw a dead cat on the sidewalk, and Callie's physical features were beginning to mirror what Mariana's looked like right before she fainted. "Callie?" She asked once more, leaning over the girl's head.

At the sudden movement of Stef's head, Callie threw her hands up over her face to protect herself. It was a reflex, one that Callie had used almost daily in pervious foster homes.

When Callie's arms flew up, Stef stopped and lifted her hands up in a surrender position. "I'm not gonna hurt you, love. I just need to know you're ok."

Callie's arms dropped to her side, fatigue taking over. She knew she should fight to keep her eyes open and alert, but the lack of food in her stomach and the lack of sleep made it extremely hard to concentrate. Callie's eyes began to close as exhaustion took over.

"Callie?" Stef asked once more, still worried slightly about the state of the girl, but realizing that she was most likely exhausted.

Callie's eyes fluttered shut, but her body never relaxed. It was as if she was on alert in her sleep. Stef sighed as she looked down at the girl who looked much more like an 8 year old rather than a 16 year old. The woman stood up, pulled the blankets over the girl's body and smoothed out the creases. She turned to turn off the lights and find Lena but stopped at the soft whimpering sounds coming from the bed.

Stef turned around slowly and immediately saw Callie's face stricken with panic and fear. The girl's breathing became labored once more and she began to toss her head back and forth like she had done earlier on the couch. "Callie" Stef cooed as she made her way back to the bed. "You're ok. You're ok" She stated as she placed a hand on the girl's forehead, remembering that the physical touch had calmed her in the hospital. "Shhhh"

Stef sat on the edge of the bed, which gave her more access to the girl's hair, which she began to run her fingers through. "Shhh, Callie. Sweetie you're ok. I promise you're ok" Stef said, keeping the movement of her hands steady.

"Stef?"

At the sound of her wife's voice, Stef jumped slightly. 'Gosh Lena! You scared me!" She exclaimed as she turned to face her wife.

Lena smiled apologetically and looked past Stef and to the bed. "Nightmare?" She asked. Stef nodded and turned her attention back to the girl.

"I thought she was gonna pass out." Stef whispered.

"Jude and Mariana are downstairs watching a movie, so that should keep both of them busy for at least an hour." Lena informed her wife. She had since made her way to her wife's side and placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"I feel like I can't do anything to help her." Stef said, her eyes remaining on the girl, who had relaxed slightly at the touch of Stef's fingers.

"Honey…" Lena began before Stef continued.

"In the few minutes that she was in the bathroom alone she dug her fingernails so hard into her thighs that they were bleeding. Lena she hurt herself and I was on the other side of the door! I don't understand. I don't know how to help her." Stef finished, angrily wiping a tear that had fallen. She let out a frustrated breath.

"Stef." Lena said, sitting on the bed next to her wife. She grabbed her wife's hand to hold her attention. She knew Stef needed to be tended to as well, and every since she left the night before, Stef hadn't had a moment to stop and breathe. "Baby." She started, smoothing out her wife's hair. She saw the tears begin to pool in the blonde's eyes and her heart ached. "Stef…" She started once more but was interrupted by Callie's soft whimpers. Both women looked down at the girl whose face had scrunched up again and who was struggling to breathe once more.

"Callie, love." Stef sighed as she returned to her stroking. She smoothed the girl's hair and pushed the stray hairs off of her forehead. "Callie, sweetheart. You're ok." Stef looked up at Lena with a lost look. "I don't think she sleeps without nightmares."

Lena nodded and looked at the girl as Stef's fingers calmed her slightly, but she was still mumbling and her breathing was uneven. "I'm gonna call Dr. Fendmen and get the name of a therapist. If anything, we need to find a way for her to get some sleep. We can't go anywhere if she is sleep deprived."

Stef looked back at Callie and nodded. "Yeah. That's true."

Lena stood up and wrapped her arms around Stef's waist before kissing her head. "I'm gonna call him now and check on the kids."

"Ok, love." Stef responded.

Lena made her way quietly to the door and closed it gently behind her.

* * *

Mariana and Jude were situated on either end of the couch. Lena had put in a movie, but the two kids were too engrossed in their own thoughts to register the title.

Jude had curled himself into a small ball and sat very still, his thoughts were screaming in his head. He knew Callie had a hard time with new people, but what he saw in the bathroom was something new. It scared him immensely to see his sister in that state, but a part of him was a little happy. Happy that she was allowing Stef to hold her. He knew she shrugged off most physical encounters with anyone but him, but seeing her in Stef's arms made Jude feel a little more at ease in the house.

Mariana had been staring at her phone since the moment her mother left. She robotically scrolled through the hundreds of texts that she had received about the pills. She was getting texts from people who she didn't even know. People who were warning her that other kids who were getting pills from someone else were planning on saying they got them from Mariana if they got caught. Her stomach knotted as she read that text.

Mariana's head fell back onto the couch. She was exhausted from all of the secrets and the waiting. She was slightly confused that her mother hadn't been called when she received another text from Kelsey.

_Come up with anything yet? Cuz they're about to call your mom in for an emergency meeting. We're all being forced to go to an assembly._

As she read over the text two more times, she heard the familiar sound of her mother's ringtone. She sucked in a deep breath and looked over at Jude, who was completely engrossed in his own thoughts.

Without thinking incredibly straight, Mariana slipped off of the couch and crept into the kitchen, following the sound of her mother's phone. She spotted the purse sitting on the floor by the kitchen nook and slowly walked over to it. She reached down and picked up the bag.

"Mari?" Lena asked suddenly.

The girl spun around, mouth open, eyes wide. _Speak!_ She yelled at herself. "Hi mama. Your phone was ringing. I was gonna get it for you." She forced out, holding the purse up to her mother quickly.

Lena raised her eyebrow and took the bag from her daughter. "Thanks." She said suspiciously before digging her hand in to reach the still ringing phone.

Mariana stood awkwardly in front of her mom, trying to make her feet move back to the couch. "Hey baby I gotta take this. It's principal Sanchez."

Before she could stop herself, Mariana put her hand over her mouth and ran into the bathroom, leaving a very stunned Lena.

"Uhh Hi Karina." Lena said as she ran to the sink to fill a cup up with water and wet a washcloth. "Hi no yeah I let Sandy know. Yeah my girls are sick. Uh actually Mariana just ran into the bathroom…" She tried to explain as she multitasked. "Wait what?" Lena stopped suddenly at the shocking information. "Uhhh yeah. No I understand it is very serious, but I'm gonna have to talk to Stef. We are fostering two children right now and one is sick, not to mention Mari." She said, picking up her speed again. She ran into the bathroom and saw her youngest daughter dry heaving into the toilet.

"You're ok, baby." Lena cooed as she pulled back the girl's hair and used the hair tie that was in her hair to tie back the teen's long locks. "Karina." She said, putting her mouth back up next to the speaker. "I have to go. Once I get things settled here a little I will call you back." She said and quickly ended with "Thank you. Bye."

Lena put the phone somewhere on the counter and focused all of her attention on her daughter. "Mariana sweetheart can you drink some water for me?" She asked, holding the cup towards her line of view.

The teen lifted her head slightly and shook it before dry heaving once more.

"Come on, baby." Lena coaxed. "You need to drink some. You have nothing in your stomach to throw up. This will make it not hurt as much."

Mariana lifted her head up again and inhaled deeply. She took the cup from her mother's hands and greedily drank the water. It was the most substance she had put in her body in over 9 hours.

"Slow down, baby." Lena warned as she took hold of the now empty cup of water and watched concerning as her daughter took in large gulps of air. "My sweet baby." Lena started as she used her thumb to wipe a tear from her daughter's cheek. "Feel any better?"

Mariana looked up and nodded slightly, but her body answered differently. Almost immediately after she nodded, she turned back towards the toilet and threw up the water that she had just managed to drink. Terar pricked her eyes as her mother's hand went back to rubbing her back.

"Baby can I take you back to your room so you can lie in bed?" Lena asked softly.

Mariana nodded slightly and let out a small sob. She knew that everything was just going to go downhill from here. She tried to stand herself up, but her legs wouldn't support her; partly because they were asleep from how she was kneeling, and partly because she was so drained that she had no energy. Lena helped the girl up before slipping her own arm under her daughter's legs and swiftly picking her up in her arms. Mariana's head was running too fast for her to even realize what her mother was doing. She rested her head against her mother's chest and enjoyed the last few moments when her mom would actually want to be with her like this. _God knows she won't want a felon as a daughter._

Lena wasn't surprised when she could easily lift her daughter in her arms. Mariana had always been a small child, and Lena had gotten her hooked on all natural foods since she could eat solids. As her daughter placed her head down on her chest, Lena took a moment to kiss the girl's temple a few times before beginning to walk.

She carried the teen through the kitchen and towards the stairs. She stopped momentarily, debating if she should check in on Jude. She knew she would have the 'what if' feeling if she didn't, so she backtracked a couple of steps to peek into the room. Her heart sunk as she saw the boy in the same position as he was when she left him: curled up in a ball, arms wrapped around his legs, and head furrowed far into his own body. She made a mental note of taking him aside sometime today to talk with him. She knew all of this was hard for him too.

She felt Mariana's head move against her chest and lowered her lips to kiss her once more before traveling back up the stairs. "Ok, baby." She whispered.

Before Lena could even make it into her daughter's room, she knew her daughter had fallen asleep. The girl's arms limped to the side and her breathing was steady and even. She carefully laid her daughter down on her bed and tucked her in under the blankets. Quickly, she grabbed her trashcan and placed it next to the girl's bed, just like she had done the night before. "Good night, baby girl." Lena whispered before planting a final kiss on her daughter's forehead. "I love you." And with that, she walked out of the room, making sure to shut the door behind her.

Lena sighed as she rested her head against her daughter's door. She hated seeing any of her babies sick or upset, and she was pretty sure that Mariana was both. Avoiding going into her bedroom to talk with her wife, she made her way back downstairs to check in on Jude again and make the call to Bill.

She crept quietly into the living room and craned her neck to see if the boy was still awake. Much to her happy surprise, his eyes were closed and he seemed to be sleeping. She walked over to him and whispered, "Hey Jude, its just Lena. I'm gonna give you a blanket." She didn't want to scare him if he wasn't fully asleep.

Lena grabbed one of the blankets that had been thrown on the side of the couch and opened it up fully. She gently draped the material over the boy and smiled when she saw him snuffle further into the blanket, allowing his body to relax more.

She turned off the television and glanced at the boy once more before heading into the kitchen.

She looked scanned the room for a moment when she couldn't find her phone in her purse, but remembered that she had put it down in the bathroom when she was in there with Mariana. Sighing briefly, she grabbed the cell from the sink and scrolled through the contacts until she found Bill's name. She took a deep breath and clicked send.

* * *

Stef had been stroking the girl's hair for close to a half hour. Although her arm was exhausted, she continued, knowing it was the only way she found so far that was helping Callie in any sort of way.

Stef distracted the tiring feeling in her arm by going over everything that had happened over the last 24 hours. She was amazed that it had only been that short amount of time. She thought back to the terrible excuse for a home that Callie and Jude were forced to live in and she shivered at the thought of them trying to live out a life there. With that terrible man. She just didn't understand how someone could purposely hurt a child.

"No. No please." Callie softly whispered.

Callie had been mumbling on and off since Stef had gotten her into the bed, so she simply increased the pressure of her fingers in the girl's hair, as she had done previously. However, this time was different. Instead of calming down like before, Callie's voice began to rise and breathing became labored again. Stef looked down with concern.

"Callie, sweets. You're ok. Just relax, baby." Stef said, pushing herself up into a straighter sitting position with her words seemed to do nothing to ease the girl. "Callie, love."

"No. Please! Please no. I'm sorry." She whimpered, her body trying to move away from Stef.

"Callie, baby. It's Stef. You're safe here. I'm not gonna hurt you." She continued to sooth, but the girl continued to push herself away from her.

Stef released her fingers from the girl's hair and watched as she curled herself up into a small ball. She threw up her hands in front of her face and let them fall over her face as if she was getting prepared if someone wanted to harm her.

Callie's shirtsleeve had since rolled up and Stef could see the various red lines that traveled up her wrist. She winced at the thought of what the girl must have been thinking when she did that to herself. She wanted to clean it and wrap it up right then and there, but she knew she would need Lena's help for that.

"Wait. You can't! Please I'll be good! I promise!" Callie started up again. Tears began to fall down her cheeks as she continued to use her foot to back further away from Stef. "No! No! It hurts. Please no!" She cried as she neared the edge of the bed.

The pieces quickly connected in Stef's head and she ran over to the other side of the bed. She knew that if she continued to move, Callie would fall off the bed. Stef knelt down on the other side of the bed and watched as the girl continued pushing herself towards the edge.

"Callie, sweetheart. You're ok. You aren't there anymore. You are safe here. You're ok, baby girl." She tried once more. She refrained from touching the teen in any way because she didn't want to frighten her any more than she already was, but it was becoming a more difficult task due to the fact that she was unknowingly inching closer and closer to Stef.

"I'll be good. No wait! Owwwww!" Callie screamed. The oxygen was stuck in her throat and she struggled to breathe. Finally, the air flew in, but was pushed out a second later by another scream. "Owwwww please stop! Please!" Tears were now freely flowing and her breathing became erratic.

"Callie." Stef said with a more stern tone. She knew she needed to wake the girl up. "Callie I need you to wake up for me, ok? You're ok. You're just having a nightmare." Stef explained as she reached her hand over and made gentle contact with her sweaty face.

"Please!"She sputtered out in between breaths. "No! Not again!"

"Callie, she said, reaching down to plant firm kisses on the girl's forehead, hoping that the warm touch would sooth the girl. "Callie, baby wake up. Sweetie wake up for me." She pleaded.

Suddenly, the girl sat straight up. Her breathing was still uneven and swear and tears were still falling from her face. She looked around the room, not remembering where she was. Her eyes met Stef's and widened.

"You're ok, baby." Stef said immediately, pulling her hands away from the girl. "It's Stef. You're safe. We're in my room." She tried to speak in a calm tone in order to keep the girl calm.

Callie's body began to shake a she started to remember the previous night's events. She couldn't stop the tears and her breathing was still a difficult task. Callie angrily wiped away whatever tears that made their way down her cheeks and balled her fingers into fists. _What the hell! Why am I acting like this in front of her?_ She thought, completely embarrassed with herself. _She's gonna take this as weakness!_ She irrationally thought.

Before Stef could stop her, Callie's fingernails had made contact with her thighs once again and she began to dig them into her skin.

"Callie! No!" Stef exclaimed when she saw what the teen was doing. In a split second, Stef made a decision.

She grabbed the girl's arms and pinned them to her side. She carefully got onto the bed next to the girl who was now fighting to get away and wrapped her own arms around the girl's small frame. Callie thrashed around desperately. Part of her was trying to escape the bear hug that Stef had her in and part of her was trying to make contact with her own body in order to release some of the anger she felt inside.

Being busy with escaping, Callie forgot to focus on her breathing, which resulted in her struggling to find any sort of air. She tried to suck in as much oxygen as possible, but her body would not keep it in long enough for her to properly use it. "Callie, love I need you to breathe. Can you breathe for me, please?" Stef asked gently, smoothing the side of the girl's hair down.

"Please!" Callie begged this time. She was still struggling to breathe, but this plead sounded more desperate, like she was about to stop fighting against all of her will.

Stef knew she needed to stay strong and continue to sooth the girl. She knew Callie needed to eat and her breathing needed to even out or she would pass out. So, reluctantly, she continued to hold the girl tight and rock her in her arms. "Shhhh, baby girl. Shhhh breathe. In and out. Good job, baby, in and out." Stef's eyes lit up when she noticed the girl beginning to calm her breaths. "Good job, sweetie! Keep breathing for me. You're doing such a good job!"

At this point, Callie wasn't registering anything that Stef was saying. She stopped fighting her and her head began to spin faster. She felt like she was going to throw up, but she knew she had nothing in her stomach to throw up.

As she felt herself slump into Stef's arms, silent tears fell from her eyes. She knew it wasn't ok, but she felt safe and relaxed in this woman's arms, and it scared her. But for the moment, she felt like she was in her birth mother's arms and as she drifted off into an actual sleep, she muttered "Mommy."

**Please let me know if you have suggestions as to where you would like this story to go!**


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